Citation

Choi JM, Yang JB. Information (Japan) 2015; 18(9): 3889-3895.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Although the suicide rate of the elderly in South Korea is the highest among the OECD countries, limited studies have been conducted to address this issue. The purpose of this study was therefore to augment the existing research on elderly suicide in South Korea by testing the mediation roles of depression and family relationships on the relationship between economic hardship and suicidal ideation among the elderly. The Economic Hardship Measurement, the Scale for Suicidal Ideation(SSI), the Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Family Relationship Scale were employed in a sample of 534 elderly Koreans. It was found that depression had a partially mediating effect on the relationship between economic hardship and suicide ideation, while no significant effects were noted in the path between economic hardship and family relationships. Based on these results, practical solutions for the prevention of elderly suicide in South Korea are proposed. © 2015 International Information Institute.

Language: en

Keywords

Depression; Suicide ideation; Elderly suicide; Family relationships; Economic hardship