The authors reanalyzed the data of a questionnaire survey for 3000 randomly sampled adults in a city to examine
1) whether suicidal ideation associates with demographic characteristics, 2) whether suicidal ideation associates
with self-reported health status, subjective stress, and hesitation to consult others on distress, and 3) whether the
associations obtained from 2 explain the associations obtained from 1. Suicidal ideation was defined as thinking about committing suicide in the past one year. Among 1438 respondents, 5.1% reported experiencing suicidal ideation. The prevalence was higher among those aged 20–44 years, divorced respondents, those who were between jobs, and other“ unemployed” respondents, showing they should be a target population for measures to prevent suicidal ideation.
Suicidal ideation was correlated with poor health status, being highly distressed, having no one to consult with, and the
degree of hesitation in consulting others on distress. These variables also associated with demographic characteristics,
explaining the association of suicidal ideation with demographics. These results indicated the need for measures to
prevent suicidal ideation taking into consideration their health status, subjective distress, and isolation.
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