El riesgo suicida y la autoidentificación étnica en adolescentes indígenas de Quisapincha, Ecuador

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to determine the relationship between suicide risk and ethnic selfidentification in indigenous adolescents. In this research, 97 adolescents have participated among men and women of school age between 15 and 19, belonging to an educational unit in the rural area of the Quisapincha parish, Ecuador. To carry out this research, Beck's scale of hopelessness, which measures suicide risk in adolescents and the revised multigroup ethnic identity scale, has been taken as a reference to identify adolescents' attachment to their ethnic group. The results reveal that suicide risk understood as, the predictive behaviors of committing a suicidal act among them despair, show a significant correlation with the ethical self-identification of indigenous adolescents compared to adolescents who self-identify as mestizos, despite the fact that there are relatively similar indicators in both groups regarding the membership or attachment they show towards their ethnic group. These results reveal the need to conduct extensive research on the subject and devote special attention to identity as a factor to be considered in aspects of mental health prevention.