Mindfulness and Help-Seeking in Social Networks to Understand Suicidal Ideation

Suicide rates among active-duty service members and homeless youth outpace those seen among many other populations. Although research demonstrates associations between social connectedness and mental health, how such network processes impact suicide is relatively unknown. The resiliency of social networks in the face of adversity is a potentially influential but understudied factor in promoting positive mental health outcomes. Two specific behaviors that may support network resilience include mindfulness and help-seeking practices. A fundamental question related to network resilience that remains unanswered is to what extent different network connections facilitate help-seeking and mindfulness, and thus reduce suicidal ideation. Our goal is to leverage advances in artificial intelligence to understand how mindfulness and help-seeking practices are related to community-level social network processes.