Suicidal Ideation in Elderly Without a Spouse: The Role of Interpersonal Cognitive Distortions, Positive and Negative Affect, Perceived Social Support and Meaning in Life

Today, in many countries, elderly suicide is considered as an important issue in public health. The present study aimed to predict suicidal ideation based on interpersonal cognitive distortions, positive and negative affect, perceived social support and meaning in life in the elderly without a spouse. It was a correlational descriptive study. The statistical population of the study included all elderly attending nursing homes in Ardabil in 2019 among whom 111 were selected by convenience sampling method. Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation, Hamamci and Buyukozturk Scale for Interpersonal Cognitive Distortions, Watson and Clark Questionnaire for Positive and Negative Affect, Zimet Multiple Scale for Perceived Social Support and Steger Questionnaire for Meaning in Life were used to collect the required data. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis in SPSS version 23 software. The results showed a significant positive correlation between interpersonal cognitive distortions and negative affect with suicidal ideation of the elderly (P<0/01). In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between positive affect and perceived social support with suicidal ideation of elderly (P<0/01). However, results suggested no significant correlation between meaning in life and suicidal ideation of elderly. In addition, the results of regression analysis revealed that approximately 48% of the total variance of suicidal ideation was predicted based on cognitive distortions, positive and negative affect and perceived social support (P<0/01). In general, according to the findings of the study and in order to prevent the occurrence of suicidal ideation in elderly without a spouse, it was recommended to pay attention to dimension such as interpersonal cognitive distortions, positive and negative affect and perceived social support.