Small but protective social capital against suicide ideation in poor communities: A community-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Coupled with the lowest level of social connectedness, South Korea has the highest suicide rate among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. A possible link between community and suicide is social capital imprinted in social connectedness. This study explores whether social capital is protective against suicide ideation in relation to the poverty level of communities, and whether the associations are specific to certain elements of social capital.

A total of 908 participants were included to assess cross-sectional association of social capital at individual level with suicide ideation by comparing between poor (government-leased apartments) and non-poor communities (nongovernment-leased apartments). Logistic regression analyses were performed to examine various social capital dimensions in relation to suicide ideation.

Suicide ideation was far higher among those living in the poor communities (poor communities 12%; non poor communities 6.3%) and the level of social capital was lower in the poor communities. Nevertheless, the protective effect of social capital, in particular, the cognitive dimension against suicide ideation was demonstrated only in the poor communities (eg, odds ratio = 0.27, 95% confidence interval: 0.12–0.58 for trust in the poor communities). Low income was significantly associated with suicide ideation only in the poor communities, but depression and resilience were associated with suicide ideation both in the poor and non-poor communities.

To increase the reliability of the results, established measures based on relevant literature were utilized, but measures on bridging social capital and social network might have relatively low reliability.

As to protection against suicide ideation, the extent of reliance on social capital was higher in poor communities than in non-poor communities, in particular, the cognitive dimension was likely to activate in this regard.