Friendship Factors and Suicidality: Common and Unique Patterns in Mexican American and European American Youth

Research suggests a link between friendships and suicidality among U.S. youth, but this link has not been confirmed across ethnicities. The relationship between friendships and suicidality among Mexican American and European American adolescents was examined in this study. Specifically, the role of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Suicide & life-threatening behavior 2011-02, Vol.41 (1), p.50-65
Main Authors: Winterrowd, Erin, Canetto, Silvia Sara, Chavez, Ernest L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescents
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
At Risk Persons
Biological and medical sciences
Children & youth
Confidence Intervals
Correlation
Delinquency
Depression (Psychology)
Ethnicity
Europe
European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology
Female
Friends - psychology
Friendship
Humans
Logistic Models
Male
Medical sciences
Mental depression
Mexican Americans
Mexican Americans - psychology
Odds Ratio
Peer Influence
Peer Relationship
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Racial Differences
Risk Factors
Schools
Self Destructive Behavior
Social Isolation
Social Isolation - psychology
Suicidal Ideation
Suicide
Suicides & suicide attempts
United States
Whites
Young Adult
Youth
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Summary:Research suggests a link between friendships and suicidality among U.S. youth, but this link has not been confirmed across ethnicities. The relationship between friendships and suicidality among Mexican American and European American adolescents was examined in this study. Specifically, the role of friendship problems (i.e., social isolation, poor quality friendships) and problematic friends (i.e., friends who were disconnected from school, delinquent friends) was explored. Participants were 648 community youth. Friends’ school disconnection was related to Mexican American girls’ suicidal ideation, while friends’ delinquency was associated with European American youth suicidal behavior. Friendship factors were no longer associated with suicidality after controlling for suicidality correlates such as depression. These findings indicate that the relationship between friendships and suicidality varies by gender and ethnicity. They also suggest a dominant role of depression.
ISSN:0363-0234
1943-278X
DOI:10.1111/j.1943-278X.2010.00001.x