Social Support and Suicidal Ideation Among Prisoners with Major Depressive Disorder

Overview

Journal Arch Suicide Res

Publisher Informa Healthcare

Date 2019 Aug 2

PMID 31369343

Citations 6

Authors

Fallon J Richie

Joseph Bonner

Andrea Wittenborn

Lauren M Weinstock

Caron Zlotnick

Jennifer E Johnson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This study explored the impact of social support on suicidal ideation in 169 prisoners with major depressive disorder, accounting for known demographic, criminological, and clinical risk factors. Greater social support was associated with a lower likelihood of the presence of current suicide ideation. This effect remained significant even after adjusting for other significant predictors of suicide ideation including sex, length of sentence served, severity of current depression, and having prior suicide attempts. This study is the first to explore social support and other known risk factors for suicide ideation in a prison population with major depressive disorder. Our findings demonstrate that, even in the presence of significant risk factors for suicidal ideation, social support remained a strong predictor, suggesting the importance of fostering social support in correctional settings.

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