School Connectedness and Suicidality: Is School Connectedness a Protective Factor?

• In Event: 56.072 - Improving School Climate in the Context of Urban Secondary Schools Serving Predominantly Low-Income Students

Abstract

Suicidality is particularly problematic for adolescents living in poverty (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). Protective factors have been sought out as a way to create interventions that benefit both the community and the adolescent (Goldston et al., 2008). Given that adolescents spend long hours at school every day during the week, the sense of belonging to a school community may be a malleable protective factor. To this end, the current research looks at the relationship between school connectedness and suicidality. Results of two longitudinal logistic regression models indicate that school connectedness may indeed be a protective factor. Students with higher levels of school connectedness were less likely to report a suicidal ideation or attempt. Implications are discussed.

Authors

• Sara E. Tomek, The University of Alabama

• Anneliese Bolland, The University of Alabama

• Lisa Marie Hooper, The University of Alabama

• John Bolland, The University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa