Social support following a loss was compared in two groups of 24 suici
dal and nonsuicidal college students. Participants were selected rando
mly from a sample of 667 respondents in four Montreal junior colleges.
The selection criteria for all respondents was the experience of the
break-up of a love relationship or the loss of an important friend dur
ing the previous 12 months. The students were interviewed with semistr
uctured questions covering the extent of their core network, the numbe
r of conflicts, and the interactions with the network following the lo
ss. The suicidal group named fewer important persons in the kinship ne
twork and had more conflicts with this network than did the nonsuicida
l group. This difference was not found in the nonkinship network. The
suicidal group was less ready to inform the network about the loss eve
nt than was the nonsuicidal group but the number of persons with whom
the event was discussed was similar in both groups. Both groups were g
enerally satisfied with the support received.