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ViewAttendees 8

Symposia

Suicide and Self-Injury

Session: Using Real-Time, Objective, and Performance-Based Methods to Advance Understanding of Interpersonal Risk Factors for Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors

4 - (SYM 29) an Intensive Longitudinal Analysis of Social Connectedness and Suicidal Thoughts

Friday, November 17, 2023
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM PST
Location: Skykomish (604), Level 6

Introduction

Since the writing of Durkheim’s book, Suicide, in 1897, major theories of suicide have proposed that a lack of social connectedness plays a role in the development of suicidal thoughts and urges. However, surprisingly little research has measured associations between changes in feelings of social connectedness and the experience of suicidal thinking. We are aware of only one paper (Coppersmith et al., 2019) that tested variability in social support in a relatively small sample of participants (n=53) followed for four weeks and reported significant contemporaneous associations between perceived social support and suicidal thinking. There have been no studies to examine these dynamic changes in a sample of both adolescents and adults.

 

Method

Here we replicate and extend that work by examining dynamic associations between social connectedness and different aspects of suicidal thinking in a much larger sample of participants (n=502; 262 adolescents, 240 adults) followed for a much longer period (3-months), resulting in much greater granularity and statistical power with which to examine these associations.

 

Results

Univariate multilevel models with random intercepts clustered on patient and patient-centered predictors revealed that being ‘with’ another individual either in person or online (vs. alone) was associated with significantly lower self-reported suicidal urges (b = -0.076) and intent (b = -0.034), as well as affective states associated with suicidal outcomes, including sadness (b = -0.32), isolation (b = -0.91), self-hatred  (b = -0.20), burdensomeness (b = -0.15), anger (b = -0.17), and agitation (b = -0.087; all ps < .001 with all measures reported on 0–10 scales). Interestingly, although self-reported connectedness of social interactions (on a 0–10 scale) was associated with lower suicidal urges (b = -0.11, p < .001), the modality of the interaction (in-person vs. online) was not significantly associated with urges (p = 0.60). However, among adolescents only, we observed a significant in-person by connectedness interaction (b = -0.14, p < .001) predicting suicidal urges, such that high connected interactions that are in-person are associated with lower suicidal urges for adolescents, and low-connected in-person interactions are associated with higher suicidal urges.

 

Conclusion

These results advance the understanding of the associations between social connectedness and suicidal thinking and raise interesting possibilities for potential interventions aimed at decreasing suicidal thoughts and behaviors.