Suicidal Ideation and its Association with Social Support Perceived by Adolescents

Abstract

Objective: to know the prevalence of suicidal ideation and to determine the association between suicidal ideation and social support perceived by adolescents. Methods: analytical cross-sectional study. 267 adolescents between twelve and seventeen years old, both genders were evaluated, all beneficiaries of the General Regional Hospital with Family Medicine No.1, of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (imss), in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, who attended the external Family Medicine consultation for any reason other than a mental disorder. The information on the main variables of interest was obtained through Beck’s suicide ideation questionnaire and Vaux’s perceived social support scale. A descriptive analysis was carried out and a logistic regression model was adjusted to assess the strength of association between suicidal ideation and social support. Results: the prevalence of suicidal ideation was 16.48%. The estimated protection for suicidal ideation odds ratio (or) was or = 0.37 (ic 95% 0.16, 0.84, p = 0.018) and 0.30 (ic 95% 0.12, 0.71, p = 0.006) medium and high social support, respectively, in comparison to low social support. Additionally, it was noted that as more social support perceived by adolescents higher protection for suicidal ideation (p trending <0.05). Conclusion: it was detected a high prevalence of suicidal ideation and also that the more perceived social support the less suicidal ideation in adolescents. These findings could help at the primary care level to support preventive programs that could be added to suicide prevention efforts.