Social connectedness and suicidal ideation: the roles of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness in the distress to suicidal ideation pathway

Background: Suicide is a serious public health issue. Distress has been identified as a common risk factor, with research also suggesting that a lack of social connectedness is involved.

Methods: This quantitative, cross-sectional study investigated the role of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness in the psychological distress/suicidal ideation pathway in a community sample of 480 Australian adults.

Results: As expected, distress was found to be a strong predictor of suicidal ideation. Perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness both moderated and mediated the relationship between distress and suicidal ideation. Specifically, distress was more strongly linked to suicide ideation when burdensomeness or thwarted belongingness were also high. This moderating effect was stronger for thwarted belongingness than it was for burdensomeness. These variables also mediated the pathway, in that higher distress related to higher burdensomeness and thwarted belonging, which in turn related to higher suicide ideation. This mediating effect was stronger for burdensomeness than for thwarted belonging.

Conclusions: Overall, the findings confirm the importance of our social relatedness in suicide. Increasing belongingness and reducing the perception of being a burden on others may be an important intervention strategy for weakening the link between distress and suicide ideation.