Trapped by Comparison: How Social Rank Fuels Suicidal Thoughts Across Racial Backgrounds.

OBJECTIVES Social comparison is a socio-cognitive process that can increase risk for suicidal thoughts through feelings of defeat and entrapment. However, its role as a risk factor for racially minoritized individuals remains unclear. This study examined whether social comparison and subjective social rank (one's perceived position derived from social comparison) predict suicidal thoughts via defeat and entrapment particularly for racially minoritized young adults. METHODS College students from predominantly White institutions (N = 409) completed online surveys at baseline and one-month follow-up. Eligible participants reported moderate depressive symptoms and/or recent suicidal ideation. RESULTS Path analyses showed that perceived social rank is a risk factor for suicidal thoughts across racial groups, but may lead to defeat and entrapment only for White students. CONCLUSIONS Thus, perceived social rank may be vital in understanding suicide risk among young adults, but the processes may differ for racially minoritized young adults. Learning how and why racially minoritized young adults develop perceptions of lower social rank may help to identify more equitable suicide prevention interventions.

• Publication year

  2026

• Venue

  Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviour

• Publication date

  2026-01-01

• Fields of study

  Sociology, Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/sltb.70080PMID 41700374
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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