Adolescent alcohol use and suicidal ideation: A nonrecursive model

Prior research has found that adolescent alcohol use is correlated with suicide ideation and behaviors. The causal nature of this relationship, however, has not been established. It could result from a significant causal effect in either direction, both directions, or joint influence from some third factor. These possibilities were addressed using data from a two-wave (24-month) panel survey of junior and senior high school students aged 12 or older at Wave 1. A total of 615 students (301 males, 314 females) completed both waves. Alcohol Problems were related to suicide ideation and behavior cross-sectionally within Waves 1 and 2. Separate Full-Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) models were estimated for males and females using the same set of identifying restrictions. Results suggested that suicidality leads to increased alcohol-related problems for females, while alcohol-related problems are predictive of suicidality among males. Sensitivity and spuriousness tests did not appreciably alter this conclusion.