General Strain Theory and Suicide Ideation in Adolescence

The experience of suicide ideation in adolescence is investigated. Agnew’s General Strain Theory provides a theoretical lens through which we consider the effects of negative social relations (child abuse and sexual victimization) and historically negative-coping strategies (alcohol intoxication and use of marijuana) as well as a historically positive coping strategy (religious attendance) on suicide ideation. Incoming first-year women (N = 1,550) at a state-supported university were surveyed prior to their first-year registration. The findings show that child abuse, adolescent sexual victimization, and marijuana use significantly increase the odds of suicidal ideation in adolescence. The odds of suicide ideation among those who have experienced child abuse and sexual victimization increase when interacted with marijuana use, and the percent change in odds ratios is most prevalent upon interacting marijuana use with child abuse. Adding the interaction of religious attendance reduces the effect of child abuse, sexual victimization, and marijuana use on the odds of suicide ideation in adolescence. The theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.