Cargando…

Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Their Associations With Transitional Life Events in Men and Women: Findings From an International Web-Based Sample

BACKGROUND: Although numerous studies have demonstrated sex differences in the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB), there is a clear lack of research examining the similarities and differences between men and women in terms of the relationship between STB, transitional life events, a...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Milton, Alyssa Clare, Davenport, Tracey A, Iorfino, Frank, Flego, Anna, Burns, Jane M, Hickie, Ian B
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7519425/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32915160
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/18383
_version_ 1783587568377397248
author Milton, Alyssa Clare
Davenport, Tracey A
Iorfino, Frank
Flego, Anna
Burns, Jane M
Hickie, Ian B
author_facet Milton, Alyssa Clare
Davenport, Tracey A
Iorfino, Frank
Flego, Anna
Burns, Jane M
Hickie, Ian B
author_sort Milton, Alyssa Clare
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Although numerous studies have demonstrated sex differences in the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB), there is a clear lack of research examining the similarities and differences between men and women in terms of the relationship between STB, transitional life events, and the coping strategies employed after experiencing such events when they are perceived as stressful. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the differences between men’s and women’s experiences of STB, sociodemographic predictors of STB, and how coping responses after experiencing a stressful transitional life event predict STB. METHODS: A web-based self-report survey was used to assess the health and well-being of a voluntary community-based sample of men and women aged 16 years and older, living in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, who were recruited using web-based social media promotion and snowballing. RESULTS: In total, 10,765 eligible web-based respondents participated. Compared with men, a significantly greater proportion of women reported STB (P<.001) and endorsed experiencing a transitional life event as stressful (P<.001). However, there were no gender differences in reporting that the transitional life event or events was stressful for those who also reported STB. Significant sociodemographic adjusted risk factors of STB included younger age; identifying as a sexual minority; lower subjective social connectedness; lower subjective intimate bonds; experiencing a stressful transitional life event in the past 12 months; living alone (women only); not being in employment, education, or training (women only); suddenly or unexpectedly losing a job (men only); and experiencing a relationship breakdown (men only). Protective factors included starting a new job, retiring, having a language background other than English, and becoming a parent for the first time (men only). The results relating to coping after experiencing a self-reported stressful transitional life event in the past 12 months found that regardless of sex, respondents who reported STB compared with those who did not were less likely to engage in activities that promote social connections, such as talking about their feelings (P<.001). Coping strategies significantly explained 19.0% of the STB variance for men (F(16,1027)=14.64; P<.001) and 22.0% for women (F(16,1977)=36.45; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: This research highlights multiple risk factors for STB, one of which includes experiencing at least one stressful transitional life event in the past 12 months. When individuals are experiencing such events, support from services and the community alike should consider using sex-specific or targeted strategies, as this research indicates that compared with women, more men do nothing when experiencing stress after a transitional life event and may be waiting until they experience STB to engage with their social networks for support.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7519425
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher JMIR Publications
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-75194252020-10-09 Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Their Associations With Transitional Life Events in Men and Women: Findings From an International Web-Based Sample Milton, Alyssa Clare Davenport, Tracey A Iorfino, Frank Flego, Anna Burns, Jane M Hickie, Ian B JMIR Ment Health Original Paper BACKGROUND: Although numerous studies have demonstrated sex differences in the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB), there is a clear lack of research examining the similarities and differences between men and women in terms of the relationship between STB, transitional life events, and the coping strategies employed after experiencing such events when they are perceived as stressful. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the differences between men’s and women’s experiences of STB, sociodemographic predictors of STB, and how coping responses after experiencing a stressful transitional life event predict STB. METHODS: A web-based self-report survey was used to assess the health and well-being of a voluntary community-based sample of men and women aged 16 years and older, living in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, who were recruited using web-based social media promotion and snowballing. RESULTS: In total, 10,765 eligible web-based respondents participated. Compared with men, a significantly greater proportion of women reported STB (P<.001) and endorsed experiencing a transitional life event as stressful (P<.001). However, there were no gender differences in reporting that the transitional life event or events was stressful for those who also reported STB. Significant sociodemographic adjusted risk factors of STB included younger age; identifying as a sexual minority; lower subjective social connectedness; lower subjective intimate bonds; experiencing a stressful transitional life event in the past 12 months; living alone (women only); not being in employment, education, or training (women only); suddenly or unexpectedly losing a job (men only); and experiencing a relationship breakdown (men only). Protective factors included starting a new job, retiring, having a language background other than English, and becoming a parent for the first time (men only). The results relating to coping after experiencing a self-reported stressful transitional life event in the past 12 months found that regardless of sex, respondents who reported STB compared with those who did not were less likely to engage in activities that promote social connections, such as talking about their feelings (P<.001). Coping strategies significantly explained 19.0% of the STB variance for men (F(16,1027)=14.64; P<.001) and 22.0% for women (F(16,1977)=36.45; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: This research highlights multiple risk factors for STB, one of which includes experiencing at least one stressful transitional life event in the past 12 months. When individuals are experiencing such events, support from services and the community alike should consider using sex-specific or targeted strategies, as this research indicates that compared with women, more men do nothing when experiencing stress after a transitional life event and may be waiting until they experience STB to engage with their social networks for support. JMIR Publications 2020-09-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7519425/ /pubmed/32915160 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/18383 Text en ©Alyssa Clare Milton, Tracey A Davenport, Frank Iorfino, Anna Flego, Jane M Burns, Ian B Hickie. Originally published in JMIR Mental Health (http://mental.jmir.org), 11.09.2020. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Mental Health, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mental.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Milton, Alyssa Clare
Davenport, Tracey A
Iorfino, Frank
Flego, Anna
Burns, Jane M
Hickie, Ian B
Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Their Associations With Transitional Life Events in Men and Women: Findings From an International Web-Based Sample
title Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Their Associations With Transitional Life Events in Men and Women: Findings From an International Web-Based Sample
title_full Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Their Associations With Transitional Life Events in Men and Women: Findings From an International Web-Based Sample
title_fullStr Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Their Associations With Transitional Life Events in Men and Women: Findings From an International Web-Based Sample
title_full_unstemmed Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Their Associations With Transitional Life Events in Men and Women: Findings From an International Web-Based Sample
title_short Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors and Their Associations With Transitional Life Events in Men and Women: Findings From an International Web-Based Sample
title_sort suicidal thoughts and behaviors and their associations with transitional life events in men and women: findings from an international web-based sample
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7519425/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32915160
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/18383
work_keys_str_mv AT miltonalyssaclare suicidalthoughtsandbehaviorsandtheirassociationswithtransitionallifeeventsinmenandwomenfindingsfromaninternationalwebbasedsample
AT davenporttraceya suicidalthoughtsandbehaviorsandtheirassociationswithtransitionallifeeventsinmenandwomenfindingsfromaninternationalwebbasedsample
AT iorfinofrank suicidalthoughtsandbehaviorsandtheirassociationswithtransitionallifeeventsinmenandwomenfindingsfromaninternationalwebbasedsample
AT flegoanna suicidalthoughtsandbehaviorsandtheirassociationswithtransitionallifeeventsinmenandwomenfindingsfromaninternationalwebbasedsample
AT burnsjanem suicidalthoughtsandbehaviorsandtheirassociationswithtransitionallifeeventsinmenandwomenfindingsfromaninternationalwebbasedsample
AT hickieianb suicidalthoughtsandbehaviorsandtheirassociationswithtransitionallifeeventsinmenandwomenfindingsfromaninternationalwebbasedsample