Social Integration and Suicide Ideation

Abstract

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among people in emerging adulthood. An essential component and early stage of suicide is suicide ideation. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between suicide ideation and social/interpersonal factors among college students, with the purpose of providing suggestions that may help prevent suicide at an early stage. Previous research has suggested a long list of risk factors for suicide including illnesses, recent loss, mental health issues, history of abuse, social isolation, etc. This study takes a social perspective to investigate suicide ideation. According to the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS), thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness are two elements of suicide ideation. Therefore, I hypothesized that individuals who experience more negative social integration will be more likely to develop thwarted belongingness and perceive more burdensomeness, which in turn will be associated with suicide ideation. Mental health was controlled in this study. Results showed that the majority of the student population of Texas State University did not have suicidal thoughts. Suicide ideation was negatively related to social integration and mental health, and positively related to thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. Regression and Structural Equation Modeling indicated that the effect of social integration on suicide ideation was first mediated by thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness, and then mediated by mental health. Among all the factors examined, perceived burdensomeness is the most important predictor for suicide ideation.