Evaluation of an explanatory model of suicide risk based on family factors

Abstract

Suicide is a high-impact mental health problem in today’s society, both in the world and in Colombia: in fact, epidemiological data shows that there has been an upward trend in the suicide rate both in the country and in the city of Valledupar, which is the local context of interest. On the other hand, within modern conceptualizations such as the socio-ecological model of suicide prevention, it has been recognized that family factors are very important determinants of risk and protection. The different investigations reviewed as antecedents show congruently that family dysfunction as well as coercive paternal socialization behaviors are risk factors for suicide. Likewise, adequate family functionality and parental acceptance, and involvement behaviors are protective factors. Similarly, different studies have shown that older adolescents and females are at greater risk of suicidal behavior. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an explanatory model of the risk of suicidal ideation, which involved the dimensions of parental socialization and perceived family functionality, as well as to establish the influence of the parents’ socialization style, based on the findings of previous studies. For this purpose, a quantitative, explanatory and cross-sectional study was developed. The ESPA-29, the APGAR and the BECK-HF Suicidal Ideation Scale were applied to a sample of 268 adolescents from the city of Valledupar, Colombia. A simple random sampling was used for the selection of participants within a neighborhood of the city of Valledupar. The sample consisted of 51.9 % female and 48.1 % male adolescents. The approval of the parents was obtained through an informed consent of the legal representative, as well as an informed consent for the adolescents, which complies with the characteristics requested by the Colegio Colombiano de Psicólogos. Using SPSS 25 and AMOS 25, five different explanatory models were evaluated, with a SEM modeling-Path Analysis. The model of best goodness of fit indicators (χ2 = 22.2, p =.022, CMINDF = 2.023, CFI =.968, TLI =.919, NFI =.942, RMSEA =.061) establishes an influence of acceptance/ involvement of both parents on family functioning, which reduces the level of suicidal ideation; age and coercion/imposition of the father also directly affect the latter. The data demonstrate the importance of family functioning and of supportive and affective behaviors of the acceptance/involvement dimension, since they present a protective effect against suicidal risk. In the same way, the data shows that the coercion/imposition behaviors of the father, but not the mother, were a risk factor. Although the father’s authoritarian style did predict a greater risk of suicidal ideation, it was the indulgent style, and not the authoritative style, that presented the lowest risk. Although the measurements obtained by this research do not allow us to unambiguously explain why this difference occurs between the study’s findings and what is suggested by the scientific literature regarding maternal and paternal styles of socialization in the face of suicide, there are possible determining factors for the results. The possibility is raised that, at a cultural level, beliefs about the maternal role in families in the Colombian Caribbean region, which arise from a formation of matrilocal families, influence the perception of greater acceptability of punishment by the mother towards their children. On the other hand, there is the lack of evidence of significant differences in terms of suicide risk according to sex. Some directions are suggested for future research, mainly to broaden the research spectrum on the role of the family in suicide prevention and to corroborate in the context of the Colombian Caribbean region the finding about the absence of effect of coercion/imposition behaviors carried out by the mother.