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Social Integration and Suicide‐Related Ideation from a Social Network Perspective: A Longitudinal Study among Inner‐City African Americans
Author(s) -
Janet Kuramoto S.,
Wilcox Holly C.,
Latkin Carl A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/sltb.12023
Subject(s) - suicidal ideation , suicide prevention , psychology , social network (sociolinguistics) , social support , multinomial logistic regression , poison control , intervention (counseling) , logistic regression , demography , longitudinal study , perspective (graphical) , gerontology , medicine , psychiatry , environmental health , sociology , social psychology , political science , artificial intelligence , computer science , law , social media , pathology , machine learning
Social network density, as measured by the extent to which network members know each other, was examined to determine whether it is associated with suicide‐related ideation and plan approximately 3 years later. Eight hundred and nineteen African Americans were interviewed at Wave 1 (1997–1999) and Wave 4 (2001–2003) of the Self‐Help In Eliminating Life‐Threatening Diseases ( SHIELD ) study, a HIV preventive intervention study in Baltimore, MD . Multinomial logistic regression models were used to compare risks of suicide‐related ideation and plan at Wave 4 by Wave 1 density. Even after adjusting for baseline sociodemographic characteristics and depressive symptoms, individuals with a lower level of density were three times more likely to report suicide‐related ideation and plan in the past year at Wave 4. The findings reinforce the importance of social integration among inner‐city African Americans from a social network perspective. Future research should examine the mechanisms associated with this relationship and other social network constructs.