The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not risk and protective
factors (socioeconomic status, social connectedness, negative reactivity temperament,
approach/withdrawal temperament, social acceptance competence, behavioral conduct
competence, and global self-worth) measured in middle childhood would statistically
predict the prevalence of suicide-related ideations and behaviors in high school. This
study highlights the importance of examining a population of this age range prior to
entering a critical developmental stage, shown to be at increase the risk for suicide. Due
to the growing rates of suicide in adolescence, the objective is for this population to be
regarded as a main target of future suicide prevention and intervention techniques. As
such, the current study examined specific risk and protective factors in middle childhood
with the goal to help identify a profile for adolescents in high school at risk for future
suicide-related ideations and behaviors or to determine those who have developed
protection against this health-risk behavior.
The sample for this study was taken from two larger longitudinal studies with
student participants from three rural school districts of central Texas. The data were
analyzed using binary logistic and multiple linear regression analysis. While the findings
of this study revealed statistically significant relationships between three out of the seven
predictive variables (self-connectedness, global self-worth, and behavioral conduct
competence), the results were not robust. Given the minimal significance of these
exploratory findings, further analysis is suggested before development of intervention
programs is warranted. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/ETD-UT-2011-08-4099 |
| Date | 07 November 2011 |
| Creators | Villarreal, Sara Ann |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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