title: Disentangling the interrelations between hopelessness, loneliness, and suicidal ideation.
abstract: We attempted to disentangle the interrelations between hopelessness, loneliness, and suicidal ideation, by comparing two conceptually driven models of their relationships, prospectively among 234 undergraduates, using a series of multiple regression/correlation equations. Model 1 framed loneliness as a risk factor for future suicidality that operates via its influence on hopelessness (the mediational view). Model 2 viewed hopelessness as a source variable that is predictive of both loneliness and suicidality, and postulated no relation between loneliness and suicidality beyond hopelessness. Model 2 received support, whereas Model 1 did not. We discuss the implications of our findings for the nomological status of hopelessness and loneliness as correlates of suicidality, and for exploration of the structural interrelations of suicide-related variables in general.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 77555-0425, USA Thomas.Joiner@utmb.edu
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Joiner
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Rudd
mesh_terms: D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*