Social relationships as predictors of depression and suicidal ideation in older adults

Abstract

The prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation among older adults is considered to be a major mental health concern among this age group. The present study investigated the human relatedness variables of marital status, social support resources and sense of belonging as predictors of depression and suicidal ideation in older adults. A community sample of 110 older adults (M age 76.67 years, SD = 8.11) completed the Social Support Subscale of the Coping Resources Inventory, the Sense of Belonging Instrument, the Zung Depression Inventory and the Suicide Subscale of the General Health Questionnaire. Results indicated that fewer social support resources were associated with higher levels of depression and suicidal ideation. Sense of belonging to the community was not an additional predictor of mental health. The results of the present study suggest that enhancing social support resources in older adults could reduce depression and suicidal ideation.

The Characteristics of Elderly Patients With Suicide Attempts: A Comparative Study With Non-elderly Patients

“…Although the rate of suicide has been decreasing since 2010, it was 55.5 suicides/100,000 persons in 2014, and remains high 1) . In general, the risk of suicide among the elderly is associated with male sex, chronic disease, depression, weakened social support, low education level, and poverty due to retirement from work and reduced income [4][5][6][7] . However, unlike younger generations, affected by lack of academic achievement and conflict with parents, the elderly are affected by the interaction of a range of factors, and therefore, ascertaining suicide risk factors among the elderly is relatively difficult 8) .…”

Experiences of Emotional Abuse Among Women Living With HIV and AIDS in Malawi

“…Supportive relationships act as buffers to emotional hardship. The sharing of problems with significant others helps people to find solutions to problems and it lowers their anxiety levels, as they do not feel alone in the situation (Vanderhorst & McLaren, 2005). They have a support system to rely on.…”

“…They also suffered severe financial problems when their families rejected them. According to Vanderhorst & McLaren (2005), women who are lonely and have financial challenges often consider suicide as a solution. The financial insecurity that the participants suffered, in addition to the ongoing abuse that they were exposed to, made them feel hopeless and want to end their misery through suicide.…”

La Red de Apoyo Social en la Vejez. Aportes para su Evaluación

“…Con respecto a la relación de las redes sociales y el bienestar psicológico, variados estudios han mostrado la incidencia de la falta de redes y soporte social sobre la aparición de síntomas depresivos, tanto en el caso de los adultos mayores que viven en hogares particulares, (Antonucci, Fuhrer, & Dartigues, 1997;Forsell & Winblad, 1999 ;Chou & Chi, 2001;Peirce, Frone, Russell, Cooper & Mudar, 2000;Vanderhorst & Mc Laren, 2005) como en el de los que viven en residencias para mayores (Doyle, 1995). De manera complementaria, diversas investigaciones comprobaron la relación de la posesión de redes sociales adecuadas con el incremento de la satisfacción vital (Muchinik,1984;Levit, Antonucci, Clark & Rotton, 1986;Aquino, Russell, Cutrona & Altmaier,1996;Arias, 2004;Bishop, Martin & Poon, 2006;Yoon & Lee, 2007;Phillips, Sui;Yeh & Cheng, 2008), así como con el bienestar en el final de la vida de enfermos terminales ( Prince-Paul, 2008).…”

“…Por otra parte, las personas de edad que presentan déficits en lo que respecta a sus redes de apoyo han mostrado una mayor tendencia al abuso de drogas (Allard, Allaire, Leclerc & Langlois, 1995;Warren, Stein & Grella, 2007) y de alcohol (Brennan & Moos, 1990;Schonfeld & Dupree, 1991) y se ha identificado a la insatisfacción con el apoyo social del cual se dispone como una de las variables predictoras de la ideación suicida en los adultos mayores (De Leo & Ormskerk ,1991;Mireault & De Man, 1996;Vanderhorst & Mc Laren, 2005).…”