ArticleJournal of affective disorders2023
A 50-state survey study of thoughts of suicide and social isolation among older adults in the United States.
Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Loneliness as an Interface Between Alzheimer's Disease and Suicidal Behaviour: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis and Meta-Analytic Factor Analysis.Psychogeriatrics : the official journal of the Japanese Psychogeriatric Society · 2026Pooled it
- Suicidal Ideation and Attempts in Older Adults: Findings From Five Canadian Emergency Departments.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
- Individual differences in effects of stressful life events on childhood ADHD: genetic, neural, and familial contributions.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Artificial Intelligence and the Potential Transformation of Mental Health.JAMA psychiatry · 2026Article
- Sociodemographic disparities, healthcare system trust, and social support in mental health treatment among U.S. adults with depressive or anxiety symptoms.Journal of mood and anxiety disorders · 2026Article
- Sociodemographic Disparities in the Relationship between Living Alone and Suicide Ideation among Older Adults.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2026Article
- The Sociology of Suicide After COVID-19: Assessment of the Spanish Case.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Pesticide poisoning in Zhejiang Province, China: a retrospective analysis from 2008 to 2022.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Community Mobility and Depressive Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.JAMA network open · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundWe aimed to characterize the prevalence of social disconnection and thoughts of suicide among older adults in the United States, and examine the association between them in a large naturalistic study.
methodsWe analyzed data from 6 waves of a fifty-state non-probability survey among US adults conducted between February and December 2021. The internet-based survey collected the PHQ-9, as well as multiple measures of social connectedness. We applied multiple logistic regression to analyze the association between presence of thoughts of suicide and social disconnection. Exploratory analysis, using generalized random forests, examined heterogeneity of effects across sociodemographic groups.
resultsOf 16,164 survey respondents age 65 and older, mean age was 70.9 (SD 5.0); the cohort was 61.4 % female and 29.6 % male; 2.0 % Asian, 6.7 % Black, 2.2 % Hispanic, and 86.8 % White. A total of 1144 (7.1 %) reported thoughts of suicide at least several days in the prior 2 week period. In models adjusted for sociodemographic features, households with 3 or more additional members (adjusted OR 1.73, 95 % CI 1.28-2.33) and lack of social supports, particularly emotional supports (adjusted OR 2.60, 95 % CI 2.09-3.23), were independently associated with greater likelihood of reporting such thoughts, as was greater reported loneliness (adjusted OR 1.75, 95 % CI 1.64-1.87). The effects of emotional support varied significantly across sociodemographic groups.
conclusionsThoughts of suicide are common among older adults in the US, and associated with lack of social support, but not with living alone.
trial registrationNA.
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