Social Integration and Suicidality: The Case of U.S. Hispanic Adolescents

• Main Authors: Laurel-Wilson, Marissa Aida, Ynalvez, Marcus Antonius, Kilburn, John C., Warner, Judith Ann, San Miguel, Claudia E., Esqueda, Richard J.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: suicidality; spheres of social integration; substance use; U.S. Hispanic adolescents
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/apssr/vol19/iss1/9; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/apssr/article/1205/viewcontent/iRA_208.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

We examined how Hispanic adolescents’ integration with family, peer, and religion is associated with suicidality; and how substance use mediates between suicidality and integration. Using logistic regression, our secondary data analysis of a nationally representative sample of Hispanic adolescents revealed that familial integration was associated with a low likelihood of suicide attempt, while peer integration was associated with high likelihood of suicidal thoughts. Although religious integration was not directly associated with suicidality, this was associated with a low likelihood of drug use: drug use is a robust predictor of suicidality. These observed differences in the direction of associations underscore how integration does not necessarily associate with a low likelihood of suicidality; rather, integration may either be negatively, positively, or not even associated with suicidality. Furthermore, the observed mediating role of drug use suggests that improvement in the early detection of suicidality might lie at the nexus of social integration and substance use.