Health downturns and predictors of suicidal ideation: An application of the Baumeister model

John W. Reich, Jason T. Newsom, Alex J. Zautra

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Suicidal thoughts and attempts have been studied from a number of perspectives, but only recently has an attempt been made to incorporate many different psychological perspectives into one framework. Baumeister (1990) has integrated personality and social psychological perspectives into one sequential model, moving from instigating events to a final stage of suicidal thoughts. Employing a sample of older adult subjects undergoing the stresses of a recent health downturn, this study tested a four-stage model of suicidal ideation based on many of the components proposed by Baumeister. Structural equation modeling achieved a good fit to the data. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of including life events, particularly poor health, and cognitive variables such as confusions in thinking, in understanding suicidal ideation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)282-291
Number of pages10
JournalSuicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
Volume26
Issue number3
StatePublished - 1996

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Psychology
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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