OBJECTIVES: Issues concerning the association among attachment anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation among the elderly have rarely been explored. The present study investigated the relationship among attachment anxiety, depression and perceived support concerning suicidal ideation among older people.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Tertiary care settings. PARTICIPANTS: The authors recruited 191 elderly patients from 10 tertiary care settings in Thailand. MEASUREMENTS: Participants provided data on their suicidal ideation and suicidal attempt using Module C of the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Their attachment anxiety was assessed using the revised Experience of Close Relationship questionnaire (ECR-R-18), while their level of depression was investigated using the Geriatric Depression Scale. In addition, their perception of being supported was ascertained using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. We performed two mediation analyses and moderation analyses separately using the product of coefficients approach. First, we created a mediation model to examine the role of attachment anxiety and depression on suicidal ideation. Second, a moderated mediation model was created to explore the relationship of perceived social support as a moderator of depression.
RESULTS: We found that depression significantly mediated the association between attachment anxiety and suicidal ideation. The association between depression and suicidal ideation was moderated by the level of perceived social support.
CONCLUSION: Findings of this study may broaden our understanding of how suicidal ideation develops among the elderly and further stimulate future research exploring the interaction of positive and negative factors of suicidality among the elderly. Implications of the findings were also discussed.