Abstract

Using data from a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling older adults (age$\ge$ 65) (NHANES: n = 3,114), we examined the association between the variety in sources of emotional support and thoughts of death or self-harm in the past two weeks among US older adults and if such association is modified by gender and race/ethnicity. Overall, an additional category of source of emotional support was associated with the 0.36-fold lower odds of endorsing thoughts of death or self-harm in the past two weeks (WAOR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.46–0.89), after controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related characteristics. The magnitudes of such association varied across different gender and racial/ethnic subgroups. While among older women and non-Hispanic Black older men, increase in the variety of sources of emotional support was associated with decrease in the odds of endorsing thoughts of death or self-harm in the past two weeks, for non-Hispanic White older men and Hispanic older men, increase in the variety of sources of emotional support was associated with increase in the odds of endorsing thoughts of death or self-harm in the past two weeks. Our findings highlight the importance of considering gender and race/ethnicity when designing and implementing successful interventions for reducing suicide ideation among diverse elderly persons.

摘要

使用来自具有全国代表性的社区老年人样本（年龄$\ge$65）（NHANES：n  = 3,114），我们检查了过去两周美国老年人中情绪支持来源的多样性与死亡或自残想法之间的关联，以及这种关联是否受到性别和种族/民族的影响。总体而言，另一类情感支持来源与过去两周内支持死亡或自残想法的几率降低 0.36 倍相关（WAOR：0.64，95% CI：0.46-0.89），在控制了人口、社会经济和健康相关特征。这种关联的程度在不同的性别和种族/民族亚群中有所不同。虽然在老年女性和非西班牙裔黑人老年男性中，情感支持来源的增加与过去两周支持死亡或自残想法的几率降低有关，对于非西班牙裔白人老年男性和西班牙裔老年男性，情感支持来源的增加与过去两周支持死亡或自残想法的几率增加有关。我们的研究结果强调了在设计和实施成功的干预措施以减少不同老年人的自杀意念时考虑性别和种族/民族的重要性。