What predicts unremitting suicidal ideation? A prospective examination of the role of subjective age in suicidal ideation among ex-prisoners of war.

OBJECTIVE

Research has demonstrated that traumatic experiences have significant links to suicidal ideation (SI), particularly among older adults. The present study examined SI among older adults with a history of war trauma and the role of perceptions relating to one's age (subjective age) in predicting SI.

METHOD: Drawing from a larger longitudinal study, we analyzed data based on interviews with 125 ex-prisoners of war (ex-POWS) from Israel's 1973 Yom Kippur War and a control group of 101 veterans from the same war who did not fall captive (mean age at most recent measurement was 65.05, SDage = 5.29). Participants were interviewed in 2008 (T1) and again in 2015 (T2).

RESULTS

Findings revealed significantly higher levels of SI among ex-POWs than evident among controls and significantly higher levels of SI and subjective age among ex-POWs with PTSD. Furthermore, a sequential mediation analysis indicated that among ex-POWs, the path from T1 PTSD symptoms to subsequent SI was mediated by subjective age at T1, and subjective age at T2, after controlling for age, self-rated health, and SI at T1.

CONCLUSION

A subset of ex-POWs are exposed to continuous suicidal risk throughout their later life, more than 40 years after the war. Furthermore, an older subjective age mediated these associations, independent of the levels of T1 SI, actual age, and self-rated health. These findings suggest debilitating long-term effects of trauma for SI in later life and their connections to advanced psychological aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).