Sexual Attraction Status and Adolescent Suicide Proneness: The Roles of Hopelessness, Depression, and Social Support

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between sexual attraction status (same-sex, both-sex, and opposite-sex) and suicidal behavior in a diverse sample of adolescents (N = 1,533 youth). Adolescents with attractions to both sexes reported greater suicide proneness, recent and lifetime suicidal ideation, and past suicide attempts than those with exclusively opposite-sex attractions; individuals reporting same-sex attractions generally demonstrated moderate elevations on these variables. As hypothesized, both hopelessness and depression mediated the relationship between sexual attraction status and suicide proneness. Social support moderated the mediating effect of depression but not hopelessness in the sexual attraction status–suicide proneness link. Targeting the distress that can be associated with experiencing same-sex or both-sex attractions may enhance suicide prevention efforts, particularly in U.S. youth with reduced social support.

Keywords:

• adolescents
• depression
• homosexuality
• hopelessness
• social support
• suicidal behavior

This project was supported by Grant # 2001-SI-FX-0006 and Grant # 2005-JL-FX-0118, awarded to Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The authors gratefully acknowledge Allen Morgan, and Drs. Catalina Arata and David Bowers. Each of these individuals contributed to overall grant or to the data collected for this project. A portion of these data comprised a part of Allen Morgan's Master's thesis at the University of South Alabama.

Notes

1. An alternative approach would have been multi-group or other models using site as a moderator. However, only a small number of youth studywide reported exclusively same-sex attraction (reported in the Results section). We opted for the simpler covariation strategy in order to retain statistical power for tests involving that group's responses.