Self‐determination was examined as a protective factor against the detrimental impact of negative life events on suicide ideation in adolescents. It is postulated that for highly self‐determined adolescents, negative life events have a weaker impact on both hopelessness and suicide ideation than for non‐self‐determined adolescents. In turn, hopelessness is hypothesized to generate less suicide ideation for highly self‐determined individuals. Results from multigroup analyses confirm that both the direct and indirect links between negative life events and suicide ideation were significantly weaker among participants high in self‐determination. The protective role of self‐determination against negative life events is discussed.