(PS9-49) Variations in social connectedness and suicidal ideation over time: An ecological momentary assessment study

Abstract Text: Social connectedness and suicidal ideation have a long-established relationship in the literature, with decreased social connectedness being recognized as a risk factor for increased suicidal ideation. While previous research has revealed that suicidal ideation fluctuates over short periods of time (e.g., hours, days, weeks), to our knowledge no study has examined (1) how connectedness unfolds over short periods of time and (2) how the relationship between connectedness and suicidal thinking fluctuates over time. To address these gaps, we used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) with a sample of college students (n = 461; 57,270 total responses) to investigate fluctuations over days in the week and months in the year, using multi-level spline regression. Specifically, we were interested in how connectedness, as well as related variables (desire to interact with friends and family) might vary over days of the weeks and throughout months of the year. Regarding weekly variability, we found a consistent “dip” in all social connectedness constructs around Thursday of each week, followed by an increase relative to previous days of the week from Friday-Saturday and another dip on Sunday. Regarding monthly variability, we found from April-August of 2020, desire to interact with family decreased monthly while desire to interact with friends increased. Given the timing of the data collection, COVID-19 (and associated lockdown precautions) represents a likely influence, as college students—many of whom live with family members when not on campus—were around family members more often, and friends less often, therefore decreasing desire to interact with the former, and increasing for the latter. Desire to interact with family and friends both increased in November 2020, followed by a decrease from December 2020-February 2021. Regarding variations in the slope between connectedness and suicidal thinking, all three variables’ relationship with suicidal thinking was somewhat consistent, but became notably stronger on Thursdays (i.e., social connection was more seemingly more important) compared to other days of the week. Overall, our findings are mostly consistent with a social network “fluctuation” hypothesis previously presented in the literature (within research on older adults), which proposes that social networks vary throughout the year, for example shrinking in the winter months when costs to maintaining social relationships may be highest. Clinically, our findings suggest the importance of frequently checking in with clients regarding suicidal ideation as well as social connectedness, particularly around the middle of the week. Our findings may also suggest the potential utility of prioritizing social skills training to help facilitate improved social connectedness. Future research may seek to disentangle the directionality of the social connectedness-suicidal ideation relationship, as well as replicate these findings in more diverse samples. Additional results and implications will be discussed, with an emphasis placed on clinical implications.