Abstract

Adolescents at risk for suicidal ideation tend to report having unmet interpersonal needs, including perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Interpersonal capitalization - an interpersonal process involving disclosing a positive personal event to others and evaluating others’ responsiveness to such disclosure – can promote positive affect and social connectedness. This study examined whether daily capitalization attempts and perceived active-constructive responses to the capitalization attempts were associated with positive affect and fluctuations in unmet interpersonal needs among adolescents at varying risk of suicidal ideation. Adolescents (Mage=15.55; range=12-18) with and without major depression, at respectively higher-risk (n=23) and lower-risk (n=32) for suicidal ideation, completed 10 consecutive daily diaries reporting on interpersonal capitalization, positive affect, perceived burdensomeness, and loneliness (as a proxy for thwarted belongingness). Within-person hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that daily capitalization attempts and perceived active-constructive responses were associated with higher positive affect in both groups. In the higher-risk group, daily capitalization attempts were associated with lower perceived burdensomeness (b=-0.102, p<0.05) and daily perceived active-constructive responses were related to lower loneliness (b=-0.279, p<0.001). Interpersonal capitalization is a positive interpersonal process that may modulate suicidal risk by shaping perceptions of unmet interpersonal needs in adolescents, particularly among those at higher risk for suicidal ideation.