This study was designed to assess relations among alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, negative-life events, depressive symptoms, and suicide proneness in a cross-sectional sample of undergraduate college students (N = 1100). Alcohol use was assumed to be causally prior to alcohol-related problems and negative life events, which were in turn modeled as occurring prior to depressive symptoms, which were in turn modeled as prior to suicide proneness. Results revealed that, as expected, suicide proneness was positively related to depressive symptoms, alcohol-related problems, negative life events, and alcohol use, and depressive symptoms were positively associated with alcohol-related problems and negative life events. Additionally, the relation between alcohol use and depressive symptoms was partially mediated by alcohol-related problems and negative life events; and the alcohol use-suicide proneness link was significantly mediated by alcohol-related problems, negative life events, and depressive symptoms. Implications are offered for the improved identification and treatment of at-risk young adults.
Keywords: alcohol use; alcohol-related problems; depressive symptoms; negative life events; suicide proneness.