STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND PROBLEM-SOLVING APPRAISAL SKILLS - PREDICTION OF SUICIDE SEVERITY WITHIN A COLLEGE SAMPLE

This study assessed whether stress, social support, and interpersonal problem-solving appraisal/skills were predictive of level of suicidali ty within a chronic suicidal college sample. Stepwise regression analy ses were used to assess whether stress, social support, and problem-so lving were independently predictive of severity of suicide ideation. I n addition, hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the med iational nature of social support and problem-solving in the stress-su icidality relationship. Problem-solving confidence was found to be a s ignificant predictor of severity of suicide ideation. In addition, bot h perceived problem-solving skills and social support mediated the rel ationship between stress and level of suicide ideation. However, only one of the two perceived problem-solving skills interactions was in th e expected direction. This study provided support for the importance o f problem-solving confidence and the interaction of stress and social support in the prediction of suicide seventy. Unlike previous studies, this study did not find problem-solving skills/deficits to mediate th e stress-suicidality relationship.