ABSTRACT Introduction Suicide is a leading cause of death for adolescents and cross‐sectional research suggests adolescents experiencing suicide attempts have more negative help‐seeking attitudes. Less is known about the effect of suicidal experiences on subsequent help‐seeking attitudes. The present study examined reciprocal, longitudinal associations between help‐seeking attitudes and suicide attempts. Methods 8469 students from 20 high schools on the wait‐list condition of a cluster randomized trial of a universal school‐based suicide prevention program were included. Adolescents were assessed in grades 9–12 at four waves. Cross‐lagged panel models estimated bidirectional associations between suicide attempts and help‐seeking attitudes. Results Analyses collapsed across gender indicated students reporting negative attitudes towards help‐seeking and suicide were more likely to engage in a subsequent suicide attempt. Students with reported suicide attempts reported more negative later attitudes. Attitudes towards help‐seeking and suicide predicted suicide attempts in both genders, whereas attempting suicide influenced help‐seeking attitudes in girls, rather than boys. Conclusions Results suggest both boys and girls would benefit from interventions fostering positive attitudes towards help‐seeking, such as the Sources of Strength intervention. Adolescents who attempt suicide are also particularly vulnerable to negative help‐seeking attitudes, which may be influenced by the severity of psychological distress and interventions received post‐attempt.
Gresko et al. (Thu,) studied this question.