Pre-pandemic suicidal ideation and COVID-19 preventive behavior: a prospective cohort study

ABSTRACT

We investigated the association between suicidal ideation and COVID-19 preventive behaviors using a prospective observational longitudinal design (N = 6683). The baseline survey was 24 January 2020 (before COVID-19 pandemic, T1) and the follow-up survey was between April 27 and 30, 2020 (during COVID-19 pandemic, T2). The sample was the general adult population in Japan. Adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic factors, high suicidal ideation at T1 was associated with significantly low levels of engagement in COVID-19 preventive behaviors at T2. Individuals with strong suicidal ideation before the pandemic were less likely to engage in COVID-19 preventive behaviors.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• suicidal ideation
• preventive behavior
• suicide
• public health

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [20H01584]; JSPS Grants-in-Aid for young scientists [18K13358].