Gleason LaDonna L, Bender Ansley M, Chen Jason I, Bozzay Melanie, Hangartner Renee, Romero Gabriela, Labouliere Christa D, Elzy Meredith, Gryglewicz Kimberley, Karver Marc S
University of South Carolina.
University of South Florida.
School Ment Health. 2022 Mar;14(1):125-135. doi: 10.1007/s12310-021-09459-1. Epub 2021 Jun 22.
Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are highly prevalent among adolescents, and peers are often the first, and sometimes only, people to know about youth suicidality. Since many adolescents do not directly disclose suicidal thoughts, school-based suicide prevention programs aim to train youth to recognize warning signs of suicide in their peers that serve as "cues" to refer at-risk peers to an appropriate adult. However, peer-presented cues vary widely in presentation, and adolescents are more likely to recognize overt (i.e., obvious or explicit) as opposed to covert (i.e., hidden or implied) cues. The type of cue exhibited may, in turn, affect whether adolescents make a referral to an adult. The current study examined whether training suicide prevention influences referral intentions for overt and covert suicide cues. Participants included 244 high school students (54% female; = 16.21) in the Southeastern United States who received suicide prevention training (SOS; Signs of Suicide) as part of their health curriculum. Prior to training, students endorsed higher referral intentions for peers exhibiting overt compared to covert cues. Training was associated with increased intentions to refer peers across cue type, but referral intentions for covert cues improved significantly from pre to post-training while those for overt cues remained high and stable. Findings suggest that suicide prevention training might differentially improve students' ability to detect and respond appropriately to less obvious indicators of suicide risk. These findings may inform the adaptation and development of future, more nuanced school-based suicide prevention programming.
自杀念头和行为在青少年中极为普遍，同龄人往往是最早知晓，有时甚至是唯一知晓青少年自杀倾向的人。由于许多青少年不会直接透露自杀念头，以学校为基础的自杀预防项目旨在培训青少年识别同龄人中自杀的警示信号，这些信号可作为 “线索”，以便将有风险的同龄人转介给合适的成年人。然而，同龄人呈现的线索在表现形式上差异很大，青少年更有可能识别明显的（即显而易见或明确的）线索，而非隐蔽的（即隐藏的或隐含的）线索。线索的类型反过来可能会影响青少年是否会将情况告知成年人。本研究调查了自杀预防培训是否会影响对明显和隐蔽自杀线索的转介意愿。研究参与者包括美国东南部的244名高中生（54% 为女性；平均年龄 = 16.21岁），他们在健康课程中接受了自杀预防培训（SOS；自杀迹象）。在培训前，学生们对表现出明显线索的同龄人表示出比对隐蔽线索更高的转介意愿。培训与跨线索类型转介同龄人的意愿增加有关，但从培训前到培训后，对隐蔽线索的转介意愿显著提高，而对明显线索的转介意愿则保持在高位且稳定。研究结果表明，自杀预防培训可能会有差异地提高学生发现并适当应对不那么明显的自杀风险指标的能力。这些研究结果可能为未来更细致入微的以学校为基础的自杀预防项目的调整和开发提供参考。
