Citation

Chang EC, Chang OD, Lucas AG, Li M, Beavan CB, Eisner RS, McManamon BM, Rodriguez NS, Katamanin OM, Bourke EC, de la Fuente A, Cardeñoso O, Wu K, Yu EA, Jeglic EL, Hirsch JK. Soc. Work 2019; 64(1): 51-60.

Affiliation

Edward C. Chang, PhD, is professor; Olivia D. Chang, BA, is research associate; and Abigael G. Lucas, MS, is a graduate student, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Mingqi Li, BA, is a graduate student, DePaul University, Chicago. Collin B. Beavan, BA; Rachel S. Eisner, BA; Brianna M. McManamon, BA; Natalia S. Rodriguez, BA; Olivia M. Katamanin, BA; and Eliza C. Bourke, BA, are research associates, College of Literature, Sciences & Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Amaia de la Fuente, MSW, is a graduate student and Olga Cardeñoso, PhD, is professor, Universidad del País Vasco (University of the Basque Country), Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain. Kaidi Wu, MA, and Elizabeth A. Yu, MA, are graduate students, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Elizabeth L. Jeglic, PhD, is professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York. Jameson K. Hirsch, PhD, is professor, Department of Psychology, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, National Association of Social Workers)

DOI

10.1093/sw/swy052

PMID

30395325

Abstract

This study tested a psychosocial model of suicide risk in a sample of 156 Latino college students. Specifically, depression and loneliness were hypothesized to be important predictors of suicide risk (namely, hopelessness and suicidal behaviors) in Latino students.

RESULTS of conducting regression analyses indicated that, independent of age and gender, depression and loneliness were significant predictors of both indices of suicide risk examined in the present study. It is noteworthy that within the psychosocial predictor set of depression and loneliness, depression was consistently found to be nearly twice as strong a predictor than was loneliness. Moreover, we found evidence for a significant depression-loneliness interaction effect in predicting suicide risk. That is, the highest level of suicide risk was found among dysphoric Latino students who were also socially isolated. Our findings indicate that depression and loneliness are important factors to consider in understanding suicide risk among Latino college students.

Language: en