Are gender and life attitudes associated with the wish to die in older psychiatric and somatic inpatients? An explorative study
- 3 July 2014
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in International Psychogeriatrics
- Vol. 26 (10), 1693-1702
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s1041610214000957
Abstract
Background: Death wishes are not uncommon in older persons, and to date, several risk factors have been identified. The presence of these risk factors is insufficient to fully understand why some older people, who are exposed to them, develop a wish to die and why others do not. The purpose of the study was to explore whether Purpose in Life as well as other life attitudes are associated with a death wish in older males and females. Methods: The sample comprised 113 older inpatients (from a psychiatric and somatic ward) with a mean age of 74 years. Psychiatric diagnoses were assessed by the SCID-II. Logistic regression analyses estimated the unique contribution of (the interaction between) life attitudes and gender to the wish to die, controlling for sociodemographic variables, depressive disorder, and somatic symptoms. Results: We observed a statistically significant relationship between life attitudes and the wish to die. Purpose in Life and the Purpose in Life*Gender interaction explained significant additional variance in the prediction of the wish to die. Purposelessness in life might therefore be an important correlate of a wish to die, especially in older men, independently from sociodemographic and clinical features. Conclusions: In assessing a wish to die in older adults, life attitudes need to be taken into account, besides the presence of a depressive disorder and/or somatic health. More specifically, finding or maintaining a purpose in later life might be an important feature in the prevention of the wish to die, especially in male persons.This publication has 30 references indexed in Scilit:
- Research to Reduce the Suicide Rate Among Older Adults: Methodology Roadblocks and Promising ParadigmsPsychiatric Services, 2013
- Sense of coherence and suicidality in suicide attempters: a prospective studyJournal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 2011
- Depression in relation to purpose in life among a very old population: A five-year follow-up studyAging & Mental Health, 2010
- Relationship between late‐life depression and life stressors: Large‐scale cross‐sectional study of a representative sample of the Japanese general populationPsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 2010
- Meaning in Life and MortalityThe Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 2009
- Purpose in Life Is Associated With Mortality Among Community-Dwelling Older PersonsPsychosomatic Medicine, 2009
- Meaning in life across the life span: Levels and correlates of meaning in life from emerging adulthood to older adulthoodThe Journal of Positive Psychology, 2009
- Age-related differences in responses to thoughts of one's own death: Mortality salience and judgments of moral transgressions.Psychology and Aging, 2007
- A prevalence study of suicide ideation among older adults in Hong Kong SARInternational Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2003
- “Mini-mental state”: A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinicianJournal of Psychiatric Research, 1975