What is the protective role of perceived social support and religiosity in suicidal ideation in young adults?

Abstract

Suicide is more effectively prevented when its first manifestations are detected. The first warning sign may be suicidal ideation, so identifying these thoughts and the factors that protect against them is essential if solutions are to be found to this social problem. The purpose of this study, then, is to determine the role of religiosity, perceived social support, and depressive symptomatology in the suicidal ideation of young people. We administered the following questionnaires to a sample of 409 subjects (60.64% women) between 18 and 29 years old: Brief Scale of Religiosity, Beck Depression Inventory, Scale for Suicide Ideation, and Functional Social Support Questionnaire (which includes the subscales Confidential social support and Affective social support). Participants were resident in Spain (84.60%) or Andorra (15.41%). The results show significant correlations between suicidal ideation and the two factors of perceived social support (confidential social support and affective social support). These relationships were still significant after controlling for depressive symptomatology. However, religiosity was not correlated with suicidal ideation. Therefore, the results suggest that perceived social support is a protection factor against suicidal ideas in young men and women. In fact, people who experience suicidal ideation tend to have a greater sense of dissatisfaction in relation to the social support received by such social groups as family and friends. On the other hand, the data of the present investigation suggest that religiosity has an indirect relationship with suicidal ideation in young Spanish and Andorran community populations, through its relationship with social support.