Your Thoughts Are Lying to You in Your Relationships: The Relationship Between Social Connectedness, Paranoid Thinking and Suicidal Ideation

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death globally, and is the second leading cause of death in individuals aged 15-29. Suicide is a self-destructive behaviour as it is a direct attack and the involvement of the self is not investigated. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate this. Paranoia stems from an excess of mistrust and can disrupt connections between people. Previous research on the connection between paranoid thinking, social connectedness and suicidal ideation suggests that social connectedness is important for trust and lower levels of social connectedness could be associated with the development of suicidality. Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between social connectedness and suicidal ideation and the influence of paranoid thinking on this relationship. Method: This cross-sectional study included 132 participants of which 107 participants were used in the analysis. The data was analysed using a Pearson correlation and a hierarchical...Show moreSuicide is one of the leading causes of death globally, and is the second leading cause of death in individuals aged 15-29. Suicide is a self-destructive behaviour as it is a direct attack and the involvement of the self is not investigated. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate this. Paranoia stems from an excess of mistrust and can disrupt connections between people. Previous research on the connection between paranoid thinking, social connectedness and suicidal ideation suggests that social connectedness is important for trust and lower levels of social connectedness could be associated with the development of suicidality. Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationship between social connectedness and suicidal ideation and the influence of paranoid thinking on this relationship. Method: This cross-sectional study included 132 participants of which 107 participants were used in the analysis. The data was analysed using a Pearson correlation and a hierarchical regression analysis in IBM SPSS 27 using the Social Connectedness Scale-Revised, the Revised Green et al. Paranoid Thoughts Scale and the Suicidal Ideation Attribute Scale. Results: Our analysis showed a negative relationship between social connectedness and suicidal ideation with significant interaction with paranoid thinking. Both of these findings supported our hypotheses. Which was consistent with previous research. Conclusion: This study was inclusive and recruited enough participants for a strong analysis, however, there was a possibility of sampling bias and lack of generalizability. These findings indicate the importance of looking into these factors in more depth and their influence on mental health outcomes.Show less

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Your Thoughts Are Lying to You in Your Relationships: The Relationship Between Social Connectedness, Paranoid Thinking and Suicidal Ideation