Examining Sources of Daily Stress and Their Short-Term Effects on Suicidal Adolescents

Both daily stressful events and suicidal ideation (SI) are common experiences in adolescence. Different sources of stress have been associated with SI, but few studies have compared how they might differentially predict short-term SI.

The current study examined whether daily stressful events, both by perceived stress level and by stressor type, predict short-term SI and whether positive events have moderating effects. A sample of 47 suicidal adolescents participated in a 14-day EMA protocol assessing the most stressful and positive events from the day and current SI levels.

Over 70% of the stressful events reported were interpersonal or school-related. Multilevel analyses revealed a shorter prediction time frame than expected: while perceived stress of daily stressful events did not predict next-day SI, it did predict end-of-day (EOD) SI. Further, perceived stress from interpersonal exchanges was especially predictive of EOD SI. Positive events did not moderate the relationship between perceived stress and SI.

Stress may have even shorter-term effects on SI than previously thought. Additionally, experiencing positive events may not be enough to buffer the negative effects of stressful events on SI. Specific intervention focus should be on interpersonal forms of stress, as they are highly frequent and predictive of SI.