title: Friendship factors and suicidality: common and unique patterns in Mexican American and European American youth.
abstract: Research suggests a link between friendships and suicidality among U.S. youth, but this link has not been confirmed across ethnicities. The relationship between friendships and suicidality among Mexican American and European American adolescents was examined in this study. Specifically, the role of friendship problems (i.e., social isolation, poor quality friendships) and problematic friends (i.e., friends who were disconnected from school, delinquent friends) was explored. Participants were 648 community youth. Friends' school disconnection was related to Mexican American girls' suicidal ideation, while friends' delinquency was associated with European American youth suicidal behavior. Friendship factors were no longer associated with suicidality after controlling for suicidality correlates such as depression. These findings indicate that the relationship between friendships and suicidality varies by gender and ethnicity. They also suggest a dominant role of depression.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 800 Algoma Blvd., Oshkosh, WI 54901, USA. winterre@uwosh.edu
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Winterrowd
authors.forename: Silvia Sara
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Canetto
authors.forename: Ernest L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Chavez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult