Social Support and Substance Use as Moderators of the Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Suicidal Ideation in Adolescents

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Andrés Rubio¹  Juan Carlos Oyanedel¹  Fernanda Cancino³  Luna Benavente⁴  Cristián Céspedes⁵  Camila Zisis²  Dario Páez¹ 

[1] Universidad Andres Bello;Universidad Diego Portales;Centro de Investigación para la Educación Inclusiva;Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina;Universidad de Santiago de Chile;Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country

关键词: depression;    suicidal ideation;    social support;    alcohol use;    moderation;    substance use;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.539165

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Literature reports that depressive symptoms may precede suicidal ideation. Several studies have identified social support and substance use as moderators of this relationship. However, no study has evaluated these variables together by testing how substance use can affect the moderating effect of social support in this relationship. The purpose of this article is to individually evaluate dimensions of social support (friends, family, significant others, and school) and substance use (alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs), as moderators of the relationship between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, as well as analyze the moderating role of substance use in the moderation exerted by social support in this relationship. This study, quantitative and cross-sectional, considered 775 adolescents [Average age = 15.48 ( SD = 0.96), 45.9% women], from 20 randomly selected schools in Santiago de Chile. Simple moderation models were used to analyze possible moderators separately, and double moderation models were used to analyze the moderating role of substance use in the moderating effect of social support. The results show that the four dimensions of social support moderate the relationship between depressive symptomatology and suicidal ideation, showing the strongest interaction in the case of family support, followed by support of a significant person, support at school, and support of friends, in that order. On the other hand, alcohol was the only drug that moderated the relationship in question. In addition, the results show that the use of alcohol limits the moderating effect of social support in the fields of family, significant person, and school support, but not in the case of support of friends. The use of marijuana and other illicit drugs did not affect the moderating effects of social support for any of the areas evaluated. The results are discussed according to the different roles that alcohol use can play in adolescence, and how these, together with perceived social support, are related to the emergence of suicidal ideation from depressive symptoms.

【 授权许可】

CC BY