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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1392424
This article is part of the Research Topic International Perspectives on Older Adult Social Isolation and Loneliness View all 33 articles

Frailty and suicidal ideation among older adults living alone in the community: A moderated mediation model of perceived burdensomeness and positive emotions

Provisionally accepted
Yang Yang Yang Yang 1Xinyue Zhang Xinyue Zhang 1Dan Zhang Dan Zhang 2Yonggang Su Yonggang Su 1,2,3*
  • 1 School of Nursing and Rehabilitation, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
  • 2 Department of Medical Psychology and Ethics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
  • 3 School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Suicide rates among elderly individuals living alone in the community are comparatively high. The prevalence of suicidal ideation among older adults living alone in the community was assessed using the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide and the broadenand-build theory of positive affect.The research objectives of this study was examine to the prevalence of suicidal ideation among older adults living alone in the community. It was examined whether perceived burdensomeness mediated the relation between frailty and suicidal ideation, and whether positive emotions moderated either the indirect or direct effect of a mediation model.The model was tested on 893 older adults people living alone in the community in Xintai City, China. An assessment of participants' frailty, suicidal ideation, perceived burdensomeness, and positive emotions was conducted.The results demonstrated that perceived burdensomeness acted as a partly mediating factor in the relationship between frailty and suicidal ideation. In addition, the direct and indirect effects of the mediation model were moderated by positive emotions. When levels of positive emotion were high, fragility had a weaker effect on suicidal ideation, and perceived burdensomeness had a weaker effect on suicidal ideation. Conclusions: Results emphasize that interventions aimed at improving positive emotions could have a protective effect on frail older people living alone in the community who are at risk of suicide. 1 Note: Controlling for gender, self-rated financial status, children visit frequency, history of attempted suicide, the total number of chronic illnesses, depression, and cognitive function. ** p < 0.01 *** p < 0.001

    Keywords: Frailty, Suicidal Ideation, Perceived burdensomeness, Positive emotions, Older adults living alone in the community, moderated mediation model

    Received: 27 Feb 2024; Accepted: 10 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yang, Zhang, Zhang and Su. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yonggang Su, Department of Medical Psychology and Ethics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, Shandong Province, China

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