The Impact of Previous Suicide Ideations, Traumatic Stress, and Gender on Future Suicide Ideation Trajectories Among Black American Adolescents: A Longitudinal Investigation

It has long been asserted that previous suicide behaviors (gestures and attempts) are a significant predictor of future suicide behaviors. Less is known about the extent to which this axiom applies to suicide ideations. The current investigation explored suicide ideations in a longitudinal sample of Black American adolescents (N = 977) aged 11 to 18. Logistic growth models were conducted with future suicide ideations as the dependent variable and the number of previous suicide ideations, traumatic stress, and gender as independent variables. Results show, first, that previous suicide ideations and traumatic stress are potent predictors of future suicide ideations. Second, the probability of future suicide ideations is higher when both the number of previous suicide ideations and traumatic stress levels increase, and this probability remains higher as the adolescent ages. These results demonstrate that the long-held proposition that previous suicide behaviors are predictive of future suicide behavior trajectories can be applied as well to suicide ideations.