Social support mediates the relationship between gratitude and suicide ideation

Abstract

Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death worldwide (CDC, 2012). Because of this alarming rate, it is important to investigate protective factors against suicide. Social support is a well-identified protective factor against suicide. It is defined as the ability to turn to others when in need (Kleiman & Liu, 2013). Another protective factor that has been more recently identified in the literature is gratitude, which is defined as noticing the positive aspects of one's life and being thankful (Kleiman et al., 2013). The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between gratitude, social support, and suicide ideation. Specifically, it was hypothesized that gratitude would lead to increased levels of social support, which would then lead to a lower rate of suicide ideation. Participants included 175 undergraduate students whose ages ranged from 18 to 29 (M=19.75) and were largely female (70.9%). The participants completed online measures of gratitude, social support, symptoms of depression, and suicide ideation. Results indicated that the mediation model was significant. This result suggests that those who are more grateful are more likely to have increased social support, and therefore experience less suicide ideation.