This federal Project Grant award for $701,099 was provided by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242). The grant will fund a 4-year research project conducted by Rutgers, The State University to investigate the relationship between social disconnection, rejection sensitivity, and suicidal ideation in older adults.
The key objectives of the project are to: 1) examine how rejection sensitivity moderates the association between social disconnection and suicidal ideation, and 2) assess social disconnection as a mediator between interpersonal negative life events and suicidal ideation. The research will leverage a multimodal assessment approach including interviews, self-report measures, social rejection paradigms, and ecological momentary assessments over a 1-year period with a sample of 250 older adult participants. Findings from this work are expected to inform the development of personalized treatment recommendations targeting social processes and suicidal ideation in late life.