Graduation Year

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Degree Granting Department

Psychology

Major Professor

Jonathan Rottenberg, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Kristen Salomon, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Fallon Goodman, Ph.D.

Keywords

Recovery, Thriving, Suicidality, Protective Factors

Abstract

After a non-fatal suicide attempt, survivors commonly endorse the goal of building a life worth living; however, there have been few investigations of good outcomes after non-fatal suicide attempts. Our prior study of a national sample of United States youth found that 7 years after a non-fatal suicide attempt, approximately 13% of adolescents (75 out of 574) achieved a well-being profile at or above the top quartile of non-suicidal peers, a status which we term as good future well-being (FWB). The present investigation focused on potential predictors of FWB, including self-esteem, positive mood, family connectedness, and school belongingness, drawn from Wave I and Wave III data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). Wave I self-esteem (OR = 3.49, 95% CI [2.01, 6.08], p < 0.001), positive mood (OR = 1.81, 95% CI: [1.08, 3.03], p < 0.05), family connectedness (OR = 1.82, 95% CI [1.14, 2.90], p < 0.05), and school belongingness (OR = 1.69, 95% CI [1.14, 2.52], p < 0.05) respectively predicted a higher likelihood of FWB at Wave III. After controlling Wave I self-esteem, positive mood, family connectedness, and school belongingness were no longer significant predictors of FWB (p > 0.05). By contrast, Wave I self-esteem remained a robust predictive factor of Wave III FWB (OR = 4.97, 95% CI: 2.53 - 9.76], p < 0.001), after controlling for demographic (e.g., biological sex) and clinical variables (e.g., depression, suicide attempt severity, positive mood). The current findings suggest the value of incorporating self-esteem into routine assessment and treatment-outcome studies of suicide-related phenomena.

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