Social Support among Adolescents with Suicidal Tendency

The present study aimed at studying the difference on social support among adolescents with low, mild-moderate, severe suicidal ideation and attempted suicide adolescents. The study was conducted in Bengaluru Urban area. Ethical clearance certificate was obtained from IHEC, Mysore University to conduct the study. Total of 240 adolescents (60 each in a group) were selected from different colleges and different general hospitals from Bengaluru. MSSI was used to screen college going students and categorised into low suicidal ideation (LSI), mild-moderate suicidal ideation (MSI) and severe suicide ideation (SSI) adolescents based on the scoring. Attempted suicide (AS) adolescents were selected from the emergency department of different general hospitals. Social support questionnaire was administered to each adolescent individually. Statistical tests of one way ANOVA and Scheffe’s Post Hoc tests were computed to study the difference in social support between the groups. Findings indicated that severe suicidal ideation adolescents differed significantly from the rest of the groups. Severe suicide ideation group perceived less social support satisfaction as well as social network compared to other groups. Low suicidal ideation adolescents differed significantly in perceiving more social support satisfaction and having more social network compared to other groups. These results indicating that assessment on social support system and screening for suicide risk could help in preventing suicidal behaviour among college students.