Loneliness and Suicidality Among Older Korean Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Depressive Symptoms

IF 3.6 3区医学 Q2 GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY

International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Pub Date : 2024-11-08 DOI:10.1002/gps.70016

Jiyoung Lyu

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the loneliness of older adults increased. Since loneliness and depressive symptoms may contribute to the development of suicidality, the pathways between loneliness, depressive symptoms, and suicidality should be examined more in depth. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between loneliness and suicidality among older Korean adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to explore whether it is mediated by depressive symptoms.

Methods

The data used for this study was “2020 Chuncheon Elderly Life Survey,” and a total of 1200 adults aged 65 and over were included in the analysis. Suicidality was measured with the Depressive Symptom Inventory-Suicidality Subscale (DSI-SS). Loneliness was measured with the UCLA 3-item Loneliness Scale, and depressive symptoms were measured with the Short form of Geriatric Depression Scale (SGDS). The mediating effect was tested using the PROCESS macro version 4.2 for SPSS.

Results

Adjusted for covariates, the indirect effect (path of loneliness to suicidality via depressive symptoms) was statistically significant, but the direct effect of loneliness on suicidality was not statistically significant.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that loneliness is associated with depressive symptoms which in turn explain suicidality among older Korean adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research is required to understand the mechanisms underlying this.

查看原文本刊更多论文

COVID-19大流行期间韩国老年人的孤独感和自杀倾向：抑郁症状的中介作用

目标：在 COVID-19 大流行期间，老年人的孤独感有所增加。由于孤独感和抑郁症状可能会导致自杀倾向的发生，因此应更深入地研究孤独感、抑郁症状和自杀倾向之间的关系。因此，本研究旨在调查 COVID-19 大流行期间韩国老年人的孤独感与自杀率之间的关系，并探讨孤独感是否受抑郁症状的影响：本研究使用的数据是 "2020 年春川老年人生活调查"，共有 1200 名 65 岁及以上的成年人参与分析。自杀倾向通过抑郁症状量表-自杀倾向分量表（DSI-SS）进行测量。孤独感采用加州大学洛杉矶分校三项目孤独感量表（UCLA 3-item Loneliness Scale）进行测量，抑郁症状采用老年抑郁量表简表（SGDS）进行测量。使用 SPSS 4.2 版 PROCESS 宏检验了中介效应：结果：经协变量调整后，间接效应（孤独感通过抑郁症状导致自杀的路径）在统计学上显著，但孤独感对自杀的直接效应在统计学上不显著：这些研究结果表明，孤独感与抑郁症状有关，而抑郁症状又是 COVID-19 大流行期间韩国老年人自杀的原因。要了解其背后的机制，还需要进一步的研究。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

6.10

自引率

2.50%

发文量

168

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： The rapidly increasing world population of aged people has led to a growing need to focus attention on the problems of mental disorder in late life. The aim of the Journal is to communicate the results of original research in the causes, treatment and care of all forms of mental disorder which affect the elderly. The Journal is of interest to psychiatrists, psychologists, social scientists, nurses and others engaged in therapeutic professions, together with general neurobiological researchers. The Journal provides an international perspective on the important issue of geriatric psychiatry, and contributions are published from countries throughout the world. Topics covered include epidemiology of mental disorders in old age, clinical aetiological research, post-mortem pathological and neurochemical studies, treatment trials and evaluation of geriatric psychiatry services.