Social support and suicide

Although considerable research from varied theoretical perspectives and across multiple disciplines has linked social support and suicide, few researchers have explored the relationship directly with any specificity. Investigators are encouraged to consider not only the type or source of support and related network characteristics, but also the specific role of support, the type of suicidal behavior examined, the type or source of stress across both temporal (i.e., acute vs chronic) and qualitative dimensions (i.e., desirable vs undesirable), particular features of the samples accessed, as well as potential interactions with a host of theoretically related variables such as problem-solving skills or adaptive coping.