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Udaiyar – The Relationship between Parent Child Disclosure and Suicidal Ideation for Adolescent Females at Elevated Risk for Suicide

 

The Relationship between Parent Child Disclosure and Suicidal Ideation for Adolescent Females at Elevated Risk for Suicide (2023)

Undergraduate: Kayal Udaiyar


Faculty Advisor: Susan Girdler
Department: Psychiatry, School of Medicine

Suicidal ideation, defined as thoughts and cognitions about taking one’s life, is an important predictor for suicidal risk in adolescent females. Parent-child disclosure is an important aspect of the teenager’s environment. We theorize that adolescent females that have more aligned responses with their parents will have less suicidal ideation, while more discordance in the parent child suicide related responses will have greater suicidal ideation. Participants and parents underwent the Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Interview, and their answers for the Suicidal Ideation portion were matched and scored to evaluate parent-child discordance. The measures were compared with the participant’s Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire scores. Parent child disclosure and SIQ results were slightly positively correlated (Pearson’s R = 0.326, p < 0.05), where a higher SIQ score correlated with a higher parent child discordance. Focusing on increasing the parent’s awareness of their child’s thoughts related to suicide may help serve as a protective factor to decrease suicidal risk of adolescent females.

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