Changing trends of suicidal ideation, and impact of social trust and social communication during transition from quarantine to non-quarantine in the COVID-19 epidemic in China

Sihui Peng; Tingzhong Yang; Randall R Cottrell

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2024.04.083

Changing trends of suicidal ideation, and impact of social trust and social communication during transition from quarantine to non-quarantine in the COVID-19 epidemic in China

J Affect Disord. 2024 Apr 25:357:3-10. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.04.083. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sihui Peng¹, Tingzhong Yang², Randall R Cottrell³

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China; Research Center for Digital Health Behavior Theory and Management, Zhejiang University National Health Big Data Institute, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address: pengsihui@jnu.edu.cn.
² Women's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310012, China; Research Center for Digital Health Behavior Theory and Management, Zhejiang University National Health Big Data Institute, Hangzhou 310058, China; Injury Control Research Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506-9190, USA. Electronic address: tingzhongyang@zju.edu.cn.
³ Public Health Studies Program, School of Health and Applied Human Sciences, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA. Electronic address: Cottrellr@uncw.edu.

PMID: 38677655
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.04.083

Abstract

Background: In order to curb the rapid spread of COVID-19, many countries have implemented lockdown or quarantine requirements, but little is known about how this impacts suicide ideation. The purpose of this study is to examine changing trends of suicidal ideation, social trust, and social communication from the quarantine to non-quarantine period during the COVID-19 epidemic in China and the effects of quarantine on suicidal ideation.

Methods: A prospective longitudinal observation design was utilized. There were six waves of interviews from the quarantine to the non-quarantine period. Two hundred and twenty-one participants completed all observation points and were included in the study. For the continuing variables, the Mann-Kendall test was used to assess changing trends across the six observation points. For categorical variables, the Cochran-Armitage test was used to examine their changing trends. A generalized estimating equation was used to examine the association between several independent variables and suicide ideation.

Results: The prevalence of suicide ideation was 16.7, 14.5 %, and 14.5 %, respectively, in the quarantine period, and 13.8, 10.9 %, and 10.0 %, respectively in the non-quarantine period, which there was a significant downward trend (T: -4.06, p < 0.01) across the total observation period. Negative behavioral belief, negative social trust, and low levels of social communications were positively associated with suicide ideation, with a β of 0.0310 (P < 0.01), 0.0541 (P < 0.01), and 0.0245 (P < 0.05) respectively. The positive attitude toward lockdown was negatively associated with suicide ideation, with a β of -0.0137 (P < 0.01) among guaranteed classmates and it was -0.0121 (P < 0.01) among unguaranteed classmates.

Conclusions: This study yielded new information and may have important policy implications to design effective intervention strategies to reduce future new infectious diseases while maintaining positive mental health and reducing suicide ideation.