SUICIDAL THOUGHTS OF WOMEN WITH HIV-INFECTION - EFFECT OF STRESSORS AND MODERATING EFFECTS OF FAMILY COHESION

Associations of suicidality with sociodemographic characteristics, num ber of HIV-related symptoms, perceived stigma, depressive mood, emotio nal distress, and family cohesion were investigated in a sample of wom en with HIV infection. Of 214 women, 56% reported neither suicidal tho ughts nor attempts since learning they were HIV infected, 31% reported thoughts but no attempts, and 14% reported both thoughts and attempts . Women who reported suicidal thoughts reported more HIV-related sympt oms, more perceived stigma, greater depressive mood, more emotional di stress, and less family cohesion than did women who reported no suicid al thoughts; women who reported both thoughts and attempts did not dif fer from women who reported only thoughts on these variables. Family c ohesion moderated the effect of symptoms on thoughts. Those who report ed suicidal thoughts reported more HIV-related symptoms only when fami ly cohesion was relatively low.