TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2009//
TI  - Impulsivity and hopelessness as predictors of suicide-related ideation among older adults
JO  - Canadian journal of psychiatry, The
A1  - Neufeld, Eva
A1  - O'Rourke, Norm
SP  - 684
EP  - 692
VL  - 54
IS  - 10
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Research has demonstrated that impulsivity is strongly associated with suicide-related ideation and behaviour among young adults. However, to date, the potential importance of impulsivity as a predictor of suicide-related ideation in later life has yet to be determined. Our study examined impulsivity, hopelessness, depressive symptomatology, and sociodemographic factors vis-à-vis suicide-related ideation among older adults at risk of self-harm. METHOD: A sample (n = 117) of older adults was recruited from multiple sources for this study over a 1-year period. Suicide-related ideation was measured with the Geriatric Suicide Ideation Scale, a multidimensional measure of suicide-related ideation developed for use with older adults. RESULTS: Canonical correlation identified 2 pairings of linear composites in which impulsivity emerged along both as significantly associated with facets of suicide-related ideation. Of note, the greater proportion of variance in impulsivity was subsumed along the second set of vectors with somatic depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the impulse to self-harm may be even more pronounced among older adults less likely to present as typically depressed. It is further suggested that impulsivity is more broadly associated with suicide-related ideation than hopelessness, and that screening for impulsivity as well as hopelessness may increase clinicians' ability to identify older adults at greatest risk of self-harm.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0706-7437
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -