Walker, Rheeda L.2017-06-232017-06-23May 20172017-05May 2017http://hdl.handle.net/10657/1838An Existential-Constructivist approach to suicide resilience suggests that purpose in life (PIL) offsets one’s existential concerns, however, contextual challenges, such as racial discrimination, are believed to threaten both emotional wellbeing and contribute to risk for suicide. We posit that for racial and ethnic minority emerging adults (N=289) who perceive racial discrimination, having more PIL will be a more salient buffer than ethnic identity (EI) on thoughts of suicide. Regression analysis showed that EI was not a significant moderator for the relationship between perceived racial discrimination (PRD) on suicidal ideation (b = - .47, p = .13), however, PIL was a significant moderator (b = - .06, p = .025). A hierarchical regression showed that PIL as a moderator explained additional variance (∆R2 = 0.112, p < .001) in suicide ideation above and beyond EI as a moderator. Further investigation into the clinical significance of PIL as a buffer is necessary.application/pdfengThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).Purpose in lifeEthnic identityRacial discriminationSuicidal ideationRacial minorities2017-06-23Thesisborn digital