Just Thinking About it: Social Capital and Suicide Ideation Among Homeless Persons

Suicide ideation is a sensitive indicator of personal well-being. While ideation occurs in roughly 3 percent of the US population annually, in this study rates are 10 times higher. This article explores the role of social capital in mediating negative life circumstances on ideation for a sample of 161 homeless adults in a mid-sized Southern US metropolitan area. Our results imply that social capital does not function the same way for homeless persons as it does for the general population. This finding supports growing evidence that social capital’s much touted benefits for personal well-being may not apply to disadvantaged populations.