Suicidal Behavior and Stress Generation in Adolescents

Abstract

Stress generation has potential to account for recurrent suicidal behavior. The current study represents a first step toward evaluating this possibility in a sample of adolescent psychiatric inpatients ( n = 99; 79.80% female) followed over 6 months. At index admission, participants completed baseline measures of depressive symptom severity, suicidal ideation, lifetime history of suicide attempts, and negative life events using a contextual threat life stress interview. Negative life events since baseline were assessed at the follow-up assessment. Consistent with the stress generation hypothesis, lifetime number of suicide attempts prospectively predicted higher rates of dependent but not independent stress. Bayesian analyses also yielded substantial support for an association with overall dependent stress but provided more modest support for specificity to this form of life stress relative to independent stress. Implications of these findings and directions for future research further clarifying the role of stress generation in suicidal behavior are discussed.