title: What Accounts for the Relationship Between Internet Use and Suicidal Ideation of Korean Older Adults? A Mediation Analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study sought to examine the relationship between Internet use and suicidal ideation in Korean older adults and the mediating roles of social relationships and depressive symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  A nationally representative sample of older adults aged 50 or older (N = 6,306), from four waves of the Korean Welfare Panel Study, was used in the analyses. All analyses were conducted using generalized estimation equations, and the mediation effects of social relationship satisfaction and depression in the relationship between Internet use and suicidal ideation were calculated using the product-of-coefficients approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Internet use was linked with lower levels of suicidal ideation directly and indirectly via the protective effects of Internet use on lowering depression, which was partially mediated by the positive influence Internet use has on older adults' social relationship satisfaction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results support previous theories about the relationship between social relationships, depression, and suicidal behavior and prior results about how the Internet might confer mental and social health benefits to older adults. This suggests that the Internet is an important social and health activity that contributes to lowering suicidal ideation in older adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Family Studies.
authors.forename: Hey Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.affiliation: Human Life Research Center, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Myoung-Yong
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D065840:Protective Factors; D011788:Quality of Life; D056910:Republic of Korea; D058992:Social Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D059020:Suicidal Ideation
keywords: Depression; Internet use; Korean older adults; Social relationship satisfaction; Suicidal ideation