Does social support moderate between depression and suicidal ideation in low-income African Americans?

Historically rates of death by suicide in African Americans have been lower than in other communities, although no ethno-racial differences have emerged in rates of suicidal ideation. Despite the fact that suicidal ideation impacts millions of people every year and is commonly reported by individuals who have attempted suicide, it has not been a focus of investigation among African American adults. One major predictor of suicidal ideation is depressive symptoms, although this association in African Americans has received little empirical attention. This study examines the impact of one potential culturally relevant moderator, social support, on the link between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in a sample of low income, African American adults with a recent suicide attempt (n = 267). Correlational analyses confirmed a positive, significant relation between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among the entire sample and separately for women and men. Linear regression analyses revealed that friend, but not family, support moderated the association between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, when controlling for homelessness. This moderating effect, however, was only found for the women (n = 152) in the sample. The results highlight the value of social support from friends in fostering resilience against suicidal ideation in high-risk low-income African American women. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Referral patterns and demographic factors predict treatment dropout in suicidal youth.

INTRODUCTION: Due to increasing suicide rates, treatment engagement among suicidal youth is paramount. Identification of factors that predict treatment dropout could aid in bolstering treatment engagement. In this study, we examine whether demographic factors, specific treatment referrals, and interactions among referrals predict treatment dropout in youth deemed at risk for suicide. METHODS: Youth (N = 3606) were screened for suicide using the Early Identification, Referral, and Follow-up (EIRF) system across three community behavioral health centers. If considered at-risk, all were provided mental health referrals and some were provided family support, crisis hotline, and/or school support referrals. Analyses were performed to analyze dropout patterns based on the binary logistic regression framework. RESULTS: Being older (OR = 1.06, p < 0.001) and being male (OR = 1.28, p < 0.001) were related to greater odds of dropping out from referrals, while being referred to family support (OR = 0.13, p < 0.001), and being referred to a crisis hotline (OR = 0.58, p < 0.001) were associated with smaller odds of dropping out. Interactions were also analyzed. CONCLUSION: Monitoring utilization and referral patterns is essential to appropriately meet the needs of youth at-risk for suicide. Specifically, referring youth for family support and to use a crisis hotline may be particularly helpful in retaining treatment engagement.