Letter to the Editor: Beyond general scales - parent-child relationships in cultural contexts and adolescent suicide risk.
This letter comments on the longitudinal study by Schaeffer et al. (Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2025) regarding emotional reactivity, parent-child conflict resolution, and suicidal ideation among Hispanic/Latino adolescents. While confirming the predictive role of emotional reactivity, the study's nonsignificant finding regarding parent-child conflict resolution invites critical reflection. We argue that this result may stem from the limitations of generic assessment tools, such as the PACHIQ-R, in capturing culturally nuanced relational processes. Core cultural values, particularly familismo, respeto, and simpatía, fundamentally shape conflict navigation, often through harmony, indirect communication, and nonverbal understanding, rather than the explicit problem-solving that standard scales measure. This measurement gap may lead to an incomplete understanding of protective family processes and limit the relevance of clinical interventions. We therefore call for future research to adopt culturally grounded measures and multi-method assessments to more accurately elucidate the role of family factors in adolescent suicide risk, advancing more inclusive and precise research practices.