Who Are the Helpers? Patterns of Social Support in Rural Alaska Native Communities

Abstract Alaska Native (AN) communities in remote Alaska experience disproportionately high rates of youth suicide, and have an abundance of social resources, which are often more plentiful and preferred than clinical care. This cross-sectional study of AN community members (ages 15 to 93) describes actions that AN people report doing to reduce suicide risk and promote mental wellness, and uses logistic regressions to assess differences in number and types of actions by age and gender. Results suggest that overall, community members engage in a variety of preventative actions (mean 6.28 out of 11 in the past few months). Notably, there were minor differences in actions related to suicide prevention (e.g., lethal means restriction), health promotion (e.g., sharing with others about wellness), and postvention (i.e., actions to reduce risk following a suicide) based on gender or age. Younger AN people (ages 15 to 29) reported more suicide prevention actions with friends, whereas older people reported doing more with family. Women of all ages reported engaging in more suicide prevention actions than men, particularly offering interpersonal supports. This study highlights the preventative actions already happening in AN social support networks, underscoring the untapped potential of engaging with families and community members to strengthen intergenerational support networks for suicide prevention.