title: Depression, anxiety and quality of life in suicide survivors: a comparison of close and distant relationships.
abstract: The study's purpose was to describe and compare depression, anxiety, and quality of life, by degree of relationship, between closely related and distantly related survivors (persons close to the suicide victim, or "suicide survivors"; N = 60) during the acute phase of bereavement (within 1 month of the death). The close relationship category included spouses, parents, children, and siblings, whereas the distant relationship category included in-laws, aunts/uncles, and nieces/nephews. Analysis of covariance examined differences between the two groups on the symptom measures. Results indicate that, after controlling for age and gender effects, closely related survivors had significantly higher mean levels of depression and anxiety and had lower levels of mental health quality of life. There were no statistically significant differences on the physical health quality of life subscale.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Community Systems, University of Pittsburgh Schools of Nursing and Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. ammi@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Ann M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Teresa J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Sakraida
authors.forename: Yookyung
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Leann
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bullian
authors.forename: Laurel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chiappetta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001601:Bereavement; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009769:Object Attachment; D010414:Pennsylvania; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult