The Effectiveness of Predicting Suicidal Ideation through Depressive Symptoms and Social Isolation Using Machine Learning Techniques

Abstract

(1) Background: Social isolation is a major risk factor for suicidal ideation. In this study, we investigated whether the evaluation of both depression and social isolation in combination could effectively predict suicidal ideation; (2) Methods: A total of 7994 data collected from community residents were analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed using age, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and the Lubben Social Network Scale as predictors as the dependent variables for suicidal ideation; machine learning (ML) methods K-Nearest Neighbors, Random Forest, and Neural Network Classification were used; (3) Results: The prediction of suicidal ideation using depression and social isolation showed high area under the curve (0.643–0.836) and specificity (0.959–0.987) in all ML techniques. In the predictor model (model 2) that additionally evaluated social isolation, the validation accuracy consistently increased compared to the depression-only model (model 1); (4) Conclusions: It is confirmed that the machine learning technique using depression and social isolation can be an effective method when predicting suicidal ideation.