Psychiatry Investig.  2020 Feb;17(2):147-156. 10.30773/pi.2019.0072.

Resilience as a Protective Factor for Suicidal Ideation among Korean Workers

• Kim SM
• Kim HR
• Min KJ
• Yoo SK
• Shin YC
• Kim EJ
• Jeon SW

• KMID: 2501490
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.30773/pi.2019.0072

Abstract

Objective
This study aimed to investigate resilience as a protective factor for suicidality among Korean workers.
Methods
Participants were workers from 26 organizations in Korea, aged 18 to 63 years, who completed a self-reported questionnaire comprising items on sociodemographic factors, job stress, resilience, and suicidality. Completed questionnaires were collected from 4,405 persons, with 4,389 valid responses. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses were performed using suicidality as the dependent variable.
Results
Results of the logistic regression analyses indicated that among the sociodemographic factors, older age, being female, and being single were statistically significantly associated with suicidal ideation. A high level of job stress, depressive mood, and anxiety, in addition to a short job duration, were also associated with suicidal ideation. Resilience was a significant protective factor for suicidal ideation after adjusting for all other variables. Older age and high anxiety levels were associated with having a suicide plan among participants with suicidal ideation. The association of resilience with suicide plans and suicide attempts was non-significant.
Conclusion
In this study, we found that a high level of resilience was associated with a low incidence of suicidal ideation in Korean workers. Based on these results, we suggest the need to develop and implement interventions to improve resilience in the workplace, thereby protecting workers, especially those with a high level of work stress, from suicidal ideation.

Keyword

Psychological resilience, Workplaces, Occupational health, Protective factor, Suicidal ideation