An examination of the relationship between social capital and adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Brandon N. Mendenhall (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Kelly Rulison
Abstract: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and rates have increased in recent years. Research has demonstrated that social capital is related to better health and mental well-being and can reduce suicide risk. However, little research has examined social capital in adolescent populations and the inconsistency in social capital measurement, particularly structural social capital, has made parsing out the independent effects of different social capital components on suicide elusive. This dissertation explores how different components of social capital independently predict suicidal thoughts and behaviors among high school students and examine how changes in social capital predict changes in suicidal thoughts and behaviors over time. Social network analysis measures are used to measure structural social capital. To examine the relationships between social capital and adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors, data from the Sources of Strength intervention is used that include adolescent perceptions of their social environment, attitudes and experiences with suicide, and friendship nominations to create school friendship networks. Multilevel models examine the associations between individual and group level cognitive and structural social capital and the within-person and between-person effects of social capital on suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The results from the dissertation indicate that some components of social capital are independently associated with decreases in adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors. However, social capital may be risky at times when students exceed their typical levels of social capital. The results indicate components of social capital make independent contributions to adolescent risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors and further exploration of the pathways that connect social capital and adolescent suicide are needed.
An examination of the relationship between social capital and adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors
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Created on 12/1/2022
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 2022
- Keywords
- Adolescents, Social Capital, Social Network, Suicide
- Subjects
- Suicide $x Sociological aspects
- Teenagers $x Suicidal behavior