Suicidal Ideation, Social Participation, Loneliness, and Mobility Limitations: Longitudinal Evidence in Older European Adults.

BACKGROUND

Suicide behavior represents a major public health problem for the older population. Within the continuum of suicidal behavior, suicidal ideation may lead to a suicide attempts/death. Risk factors for developing suicidal ideation include mobility limitations, lack of social participation and loneliness. However, there is a need for longitudinal studies to examine these relationships over time.

METHOD

50423 older people from three waves of the SHARE project formed the sample (60 years in the first wave; M ± SD = 71.49 ± 8.15; 55% female).

RESULTS

A series of nested Cross-Lagged Panel Models (CLPM) of suicidal ideation, mobility limitations, social participation and loneliness were tested. The best fitting model was that with equal autoregressive and cross-lagged effects across waves (χ² = 1220.56, CFI = .982, RMSEA = .028, SRMR = .024). The autoregressive effects showed high stability across waves. The cross-lagged effects between suicidal ideation and mobility limitations were strong, while the cross-lagged effects between suicidal ideation and social participation were comparatively smaller. In the case of loneliness, statistical significance was not achieved.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the importance of promoting mobility programs and social activities to prevent suicidal ideation among older adults.