DOI: 10.1177/00207640261460417 ISSN: 0020-7640

Relationships Between Anxiety, Suicidal Thoughts, Life Satisfaction, and Loneliness: A Series of Mediation Models on Adolescent Marriages

Rahime Kada Düken, Mehmet Emin Düken
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Aim:

Anxiety has psychological, behavioural, and emotional effects on individuals’ lives. These effects play a role in both internal distress of individuals and deterioration of their interpersonal relationships. The present study examined the serial mediating role of loneliness and life satisfaction in the relationship between anxiety experienced by participants and suicidal risk.

Methods:

The study was conducted as a descriptive and correlational research. The study was conducted with 608 married adolescent girls aged between the ages of 16 and 20 ( M age = 17.50, SD  = 1.31). “Adolescent Descriptive Form,” “State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC-Trait Form),” “Short-Form of the UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-8),” “Suicide Probability Scale (SPS),” and “The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)” were used as data collection measures. The data used in the study were analysed by using structural equation modelling.

Results:

It was found that participants’ trait anxiety positively predicted feelings of loneliness (β 1  = .852; p  < .001) and negatively predicted life satisfaction (β 1  = −.510; p  < .001). Loneliness (β 1  = .424; p  < .001) positively predicted suicide risk. Life satisfaction (β 1  = −.276; p  < .001) was found to negatively predict suicide risk. Loneliness, life satisfaction, and trait anxiety scale scores were found to explain 91.2% of the variance in participants’ suicide risk scale scores. The results of the study show that loneliness and life satisfaction play a serial mediating role in the relationship between anxiety and suicidal risk.

Conclusions:

The findings indicate that efforts should be made to reduce feelings of loneliness and increase life satisfaction in order to reduce the impact of anxiety experienced in the home on suicidal risk. Therapies aimed at reducing feelings of loneliness should also focus on increasing perceived social support and coping skills. Increasing individuals’ participation in daily life activities and reducing their workload will increase their life satisfaction.

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