Familial Factors Related to Suicidal Ideation of Latina Adolescents in the United States

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a Latina adolescent's perception of mother connectedness, father connectedness, parental caring, autonomy granting from parents, and parental interest in their child's school life predicts suicidal ideation above and beyond known risk factors of adolescent depression and acculturation. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) Wave 1, 2 secondary logistic regression data analyses were conducted on a sample of 345 Latina adolescents. Results of correlational analyses indicated that perceived mother connectedness, father connectedness, parental caring, and academic interest were positively related; depression and nativity were negatively related to reports of suicidal ideation. Additionally, in a model with adolescents who reported having both a mother and father figure present in their life, depression and academic interest were significant predictors of suicidal ideation. In a second model, which included all Latinas regardless of the presence of both parents, depression, nativity, perceived academic interest, and caring were significant predictors. Implications are discussed for suicide prevention and intervention with Latina adolescents.

Keywords:

• adolescent
• family
• Latina
• protective factors
• resiliency
• suicidal ideation

Notes

Note: MC = Mother Connectedness; FC = Father Connectedness; AI = Academic Interest; SI = Suicidal Ideation. Nativity, Age and Suicidal Ideation variables do not have an alpha coefficient due to being single items. Nativity and Suicidal Ideation do not have means or standard deviations due to being a dichotomous variable. All correlations reported are Pearson correlation coefficients, except those denoted with ⁺, which indicates point-biserial correlation between a nominal and continuous variable. *p < .05; **p < .001.

Note: CI = confidence interval. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001. Higher scores on depression indicate higher levels of reported depressive symptoms; nativity is coded “0” = born outside of U.S. and “1” = born in the U.S.; higher scores on mother and father connectedness indicate higher perceived levels of connection with their respective parents; higher scores on academic interest indicate the adolescent perceives that their parents have a higher level of interest in their academic endeavors; higher scores on autonomy granting indicate the parents allow their adolescent more autonomy for making choices; higher scores on caring indicate the adolescent perceives higher levels of caring from their parents, combined.