Abstract
Loneliness and suicidal ideation (SI) are relevant issues. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of death ideation (DI) and SI in the general population across four age groups and to determine the extent to which emotional and social loneliness are associated with SI. Data were collected via an online panel in Slovenia in February 2019 on a representative sample of 991 participants (50.5% men) aged 18 years and over. Participants completed a series of questionnaires on loneliness, suicidality, stress, and well-being. DI, SI, and previous suicide attempts were most common among younger participants. In each age group, several factors appeared as important predictors of SI, with emotional loneliness being a significant factor in all groups. Given the role of emotional loneliness in SI, prevention programs should address loneliness and its correlates across age groups.
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Funding
This work was partially supported by the Slovenian Ministry of Health under Grant V5-1711, and Slovenian Research Agency under Grant V5-1711.
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Tina Podlogar, Vita Poštuvan, and Nuša Zadravec Šedivy contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and data organisation were performed by Nina Krohne and Meta Lavrič. Vanja Gomboc analyzed the data and wrote the first draft. Diego De Leo supervised the study and refined the original draft. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The Commission for Ethics in Research of the Department of Psychology UP FAMNIT evaluated that the study complied with the principles of ethics in research (application number 2020-04).
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Gomboc, V., Krohne, N., Lavrič, M. et al. Emotional and Social Loneliness as Predictors of Suicidal Ideation in Different Age Groups. Community Ment Health J 58, 311–320 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-021-00823-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-021-00823-8