CRISIS SUPPORT AMONG SUICIDAL STUDENTS FOLLOWING A LOSS EVENT

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.