The moderator Rôle of family support between depression and suicidal ideation: discrepancy between male and female military population in Taiwan

Objectives: In this study, the authors intended to study the moderator role of family support (FS) between depression and suicidal ideation (SI) as well as between the mediation effects of the following three components of the interpersonal theory of suicide – thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and capacity for suicide among the military population. sMethods: We enrolled 845 military active-duty personnel (male: female = 679: 166) who attended our mental health education series from 2017 to 2018 in Taiwan. The participants were asked to complete self-administrated copies of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire, the Acquired Capability for Suicide Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale for SI, and the family Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection, and Resolve scale for FS. After comparing baseline characteristics between genders, we did moderated mediation linear analysis, to clarify the moderation effects of FS on the relationship between depression and SI as well as the possible mediation in the relationship. Results: In general, FS plays a protective moderator role in the depression → SI (Dep - SI) path (p 0.05). On the other hand, in female samples, perceived burdensomeness failed to significantly mediate the effect of depression on suicidal ideation (p > 0.05), but FS significantly and negatively moderated the effect of depression on perceived burdensomeness (p 0.05). Conclusion: In this study, we found that, among military population, a protective moderation effect of FS can reduce the effect of depression on SI and different mechanisms between sexes. We suggest that programs improving FS could be another consideration for military suicidal prevention.