{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T20:49:06Z","timestamp":1784839746877,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,21]],"date-time":"2024-08-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1724198400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Social disconnection and deaths by suicide among older adults are both important public health concerns, particularly in the context of ageing populations. The association between death ideation and behaviours, and social disconnection is well established and both functional and structural social relationships have been identified as predictive of suicide-related thoughts and behaviours. The \u201cWish to Die\u201d (WTD) involves thoughts of or wishes for one\u2019s own death or that one would be better off dead is a commonly used indicator to capture death ideation. It has been shown to be as predictive as active ideation of future suicide attempt.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Data were from a large cohort of community-dwelling older adults aged 50+, The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Cross-sectional analyses of the association between numerous markers of social disconnection (loneliness, social isolation, living alone, marital status, social participation, volunteering, and attending religious service) and WTD were conducted.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Multiple markers of social disconnection were associated with a \u201cwish to die\u201d. However, loneliness was the strongest risk factor while attendance of religious services was an important protective behaviour.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>There is a strong association between social disconnection and a WTD among older adults. There is also a strong association between depression and a WTD, while attending religious services or similarly prosocial settings may protect older adults from experiencing negative thoughts about dying.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2024.1436218","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,22]],"date-time":"2024-08-22T19:19:15Z","timestamp":1724354355000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Social disconnection correlates of a \u201cWish to Die\u201d among a large community-dwelling cohort of older adults"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Mark","family":"Ward","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert","family":"Briggs","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rose Anne","family":"Kenny","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"Suicide: A study in sociology","author":"Durkheim","year":"1897"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"653","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2018.11.022","article-title":"Suicidal thoughts and behaviors and social isolation: a narrative review of the literature","volume":"245","author":"Calati","year":"2019","journal-title":"J Affect Disord"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1371","DOI":"10.1002\/gps.4624","article-title":"Death wishes among older people assessed for home support and long-term aged residential care: death wishes among older people","volume":"32","author":"Cheung","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int J Geriatr Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref4","author":"Griffin","year":"2019"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"363","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.clinpsy.032408.153621","article-title":"Depression in older adults","volume":"5","author":"Fiske","year":"2009","journal-title":"Annu Rev Clin Psychol"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"575","DOI":"10.1037\/a0018697","article-title":"The interpersonal theory of suicide","volume":"117","author":"van Orden","year":"2010","journal-title":"Psychol Rev"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"327","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2011.06.026","article-title":"Estimating risk for suicide attempt: are we asking the right questions?","volume":"134","author":"Baca-Garcia","year":"2011","journal-title":"J Affect Disord"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"237","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1943-278X.1996.tb00609.x","article-title":"Beyond the tower of babel: a nomenclature for suicidology","volume":"26","author":"O'Carroll","year":"1996","journal-title":"Suicide Life Threat Behav"},{"key":"ref9","volume-title":"Suicide Ideation","author":"Harmer","year":"2021"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"947","DOI":"10.1093\/geronb\/gbw041","article-title":"Passive suicide ideation among older adults in Europe: a multilevel regression analysis of individual and societal determinants in 12 countries (SHARE)","volume":"71","author":"Stolz","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1321","DOI":"10.1093\/ageing\/afab010","article-title":"The \u2018wish to die\u2019 in later life: prevalence, longitudinal course and mortality. 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