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Cognitive Functioning and Geriatric Suicide Ideation

Testing a Mediational Model

Received October 31, 2001; revised February 2, March 8, 2002; accepted March 18, 2002. From the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto/St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (MJH), and the Department of Psychology, York University (GLF,AB). Address correspondence to Dr. Heisel, Stephen Godfrey Fellow in Suicide Studies at the Arthur Sommer Rotenberg Chair in Suicide Studies, Department of Psychiatry, St. Michael's Hospital, 30 Bond Street, Suite 2004-2DS, Toronto, Ontario, M5B-1W8, Canada. e-mail: heiselm{at}smh.toronto.on.ca

The authors evaluated a structural model of the relationship between cognitive functioning and geriatric suicide ideation, mediated by Depression/Hopelessness, a latent construct characterized by a combination of the two. A heterogeneous sample of 90 elderly participants completed the Geriatric Suicide Ideation Scale, a new, multidimensional self-report measure of suicide ideation in seniors, and measures of cognitive functioning, depression, and both global and social forms of hopelessness. The results demonstrated significant associations between suicide ideation and the various predictor variables. The results of structural-equation modeling supported the proposed mediational model, indicating that the Depression/Hopelessness construct mediates the relationship between cognitive functioning and suicide ideation among older persons. These findings have implications for the conceptualization and treatment of potentially suicidal elderly persons.

Key Words: Suicide • Depression • Symptoms/Dimensions

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