Journal of affective disordersJan 23, 2016

Use of Mental Health Services by Adults with Suicidal Thoughts in Korea

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Apr 2, 2026

Abstract

In a sample of 2,616 adults with suicidal ideation, various socioeconomic factors significantly influenced the likelihood of utilizing mental health services.

Individuals aged 65 years or older had an odds ratio of 4.90 for nonuse of mental health services compared to younger age groups.
Participants aged 50-64 years were associated with an odds ratio of 2.11 for not using mental health services.
Those with 10-12 years of education had an odds ratio of 1.87 for nonuse.
Widowed individuals showed a higher likelihood of nonuse, with an odds ratio of 2.75.
Economic activity was associated with an odds ratio of 1.60 for not accessing mental health services.
Participants without depressive mood had an odds ratio of 2.73 for nonuse, and those who had not attempted suicide had an odds ratio of 4.04.

Simplified

BACKGROUND: Use of mental health services (MHS) by people with suicidal ideation is critical in prevention of suicide, and identification of the factors that influence MHS use may assist in providing efficient interventions and treatments for suicidal individuals. Thus, we investigated the association between socioeconomic factors and use of MHS in people with suicidal ideation.

METHOD: We analyzed the data of the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010-2012, a nationally representative cross-sectional study of the Korean population. Among the 24,173 people from the national health survey, we investigated the socioeconomic, clinical, and health-related characteristics of 2616 participants aged 19 years and older with suicidal ideation within the previous year.

RESULTS: In the logistic regression analyses, after adjusting for potentially confounding factors, the odds ratio (OR) for nonuse of MHS was significant in the subjects aged 65 years or older (OR=4.90), aged 50-64 years (OR=2.11), with 10-12 years of education (OR=1.87), widowed (OR=2.75), with economic activity (OR=1.60), with an employment status of paid employee (OR=1.97), without depressive mood (OR=2.73), having not attempted suicide (OR=4.04), and with no reported problems in their usual activities (OR=2.17).

LIMITATIONS: We did not use standardized assessment tools to evaluate suicidal ideation and depressive mood.

CONCLUSIONS: We observed a significant influence of several socioeconomic factors, depressive mood, and suicide attempts on the MHS use of adults with suicidal ideation, based on a nationally representative sample of the Korean population.

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Use of Mental Health Services by Adults with Suicidal Thoughts in Korea

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