Resumen El suicidio es una problemática de salud mental de alto impacto en la sociedad actual, tanto en el mundo como en Colombia. Dentro de las conceptualizaciones modernas como el modelo socioecológico de la prevención del suicidio, se ha reconocido que los factores familiares son determinantes muy importantes del riesgo y la protección. El presente estudio tuvo como propósito evaluar un modelo explicativo del riesgo por ideación suicida en adolescentes que involucre las dimensiones de socialización parental y la funcionalidad familiar percibida, así como establecer la influencia del estilo de socialización de padres y madres. Para tales objetivos, se desarrolló un estudio cuantitativo, de alcance explicativo y de corte transversal. A una muestra de 268 adolescentes de 12 a 16 años, el 51.9 % de sexo femenino y 48.1 % masculino, ubicados en la ciudad de Valledupar, Colombia, se aplicó la Escala de socialización parental en la adolescencia (ESPA-29), el APGAR Familiar y la Escala de Ideación Suicida BECK-HF. Mediante SPSS 25 y AMOS 25 se evaluaron cinco modelos explicativos diferentes. El modelo de mejores indicadores de bondad de ajuste (χ. = 22.2, p = .022, CMINDF = 2.023, CFI = .968, TLI = .919, NFI = .942, RMSEA = .061) establece una influencia de la aceptación/implicación de ambos padres sobre el funcionamiento familiar, lo que reduce el nivel de ideación suicida. En este último, también inciden directamente la edad y la coerción/imposición del padre. Como conclusión, se demuestra la importancia del funcionamiento familiar, de las conductas de apoyo y afecto de la dimensión aceptación/implicación, pues presentan un efecto protector ante el riesgo suicida. De igual manera, los datos ponen de relieve que las conductas de coerción/imposición del padre, mas no de la madre, fueron un factor de riesgo. Como limitante de este estudio se presenta la no inclusión de otros factores en el modelo que podrían influir en el riesgo suicida, por lo que se sugiere realizar investigaciones que tengan en cuenta estos otros factores a nivel social e intrapersonales, pero con evaluaciones desde el modelo explicativo, que poco se evidencia en la literatura científica.
Abstract Suicide is a high-impact mental health problem in today’s society, both in the world and in Colombia: in fact, epidemiological data shows that there has been an upward trend in the suicide rate both in the country and in the city of Valledupar, which is the local context of interest. On the other hand, within modern conceptualizations such as the socio-ecological model of suicide prevention, it has been recognized that family factors are very important determinants of risk and protection. The different investigations reviewed as antecedents show congruently that family dysfunction as well as coercive paternal socialization behaviors are risk factors for suicide. Likewise, adequate family functionality and parental acceptance, and involvement behaviors are protective factors. Similarly, different studies have shown that older adolescents and females are at greater risk of suicidal behavior. The purpose of this study was to evaluate an explanatory model of the risk of suicidal ideation, which involved the dimensions of parental socialization and perceived family functionality, as well as to establish the influence of the parents’ socialization style, based on the findings of previous studies. For this purpose, a quantitative, explanatory and cross-sectional study was developed. The ESPA-29, the APGAR and the BECK-HF Suicidal Ideation Scale were applied to a sample of 268 adolescents from the city of Valledupar, Colombia. A simple random sampling was used for the selection of participants within a neighborhood of the city of Valledupar. The sample consisted of 51.9 % female and 48.1 % male adolescents. The approval of the parents was obtained through an informed consent of the legal representative, as well as an informed consent for the adolescents, which complies with the characteristics requested by the Colegio Colombiano de Psicólogos. Using SPSS 25 and AMOS 25, five different explanatory models were evaluated, with a SEM modeling-Path Analysis. The model of best goodness of fit indicators (χ. = 22.2, p = .022, CMINDF = 2.023, CFI = .968, TLI = .919, NFI = .942, RMSEA = .061) establishes an influence of acceptance/involvement of both parents on family functioning, which reduces the level of suicidal ideation; age and coercion/imposition of the father also directly affect the latter. The data demonstrate the importance of family functioning and of supportive and affective behaviors of the acceptance/involvement dimension, since they present a protective effect against suicidal risk. In the same way, the data shows that the coercion/imposition behaviors of the father, but not the mother, were a risk factor. Although the father’s authoritarian style did predict a greater risk of suicidal ideation, it was the indulgent style, and not the authoritative style, that presented the lowest risk. Although the measurements obtained by this research do not allow us to unambiguously explain why this difference occurs between the study’s findings and what is suggested by the scientific literature regarding maternal and paternal styles of socialization in the face of suicide, there are possible determining factors for the results. The possibility is raised that, at a cultural level, beliefs about the maternal role in families in the Colombian Caribbean region, which arise from a formation of matrilocal families, influence the perception of greater acceptability of punishment by the mother towards their children. On the other hand, there is the lack of evidence of significant differences in terms of suicide risk according to sex. Some directions are suggested for future research, mainly to broaden the research spectrum on the role of the family in suicide prevention and to corroborate in the context of the Colombian Caribbean region the finding about the absence of effect of coercion/imposition behaviors carried out by the mother.