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Published on: February 20, 2019
Does help-seeking mediate the relationship between the masculine norm of self-reliance and suicidal thoughts among
Simone Scotti Requena1, Jane Pirkis2, Vikas Arya2
1Centre for Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, The University of Melbourne, Level 4, 207 Bouverie Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3053, Australia. simone.scottirequena@unimelb.edu.au.
Purpose:
This study aimed to explore the relationship between the masculine norm of self-reliance and suicidal thoughts among Australian men, hypothesising that lack of help-seeking might mediate the relationship between high self-reliance and the emergence of suicidal thoughts.
Methods:
This study used data from on the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health 'Ten to Men', a prospective longitudinal cohort study that began in 2013/2014 with boys and men aged 10-55 years (N = 16,021) at wave 1. The focus was on men who participated in waves 1 and 2 (2013/2014, 2015/2016) and had linked administrative data. A causal mediation analysis was conducted to quantify the total effect of self-reliance at wave 1 on suicidal thoughts at wave 2, and to investigate the extent of mediation by help-seeking between waves 1 and 2.
Results:
High self-reliance was associated with an increased odds of suicidal thoughts (OR = 1.46, 95% CI 1.24-1.72). However, there was no significant mediating effect of a lack of help-seeking on the relationship between self-reliance and suicidal thoughts (OR = 1.00, 95% CI 0.99-1.01).
Conclusion:
Findings suggest that highly self-reliant men are at an increased risk of experiencing suicidal thoughts; however, this relationship is not explained by lack of help-seeking. Future studies could explore other potential mechanisms to better understand why highly self-reliant men are more likely to experience suicidal thoughts.
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