Poulain, Cassandra L. (2021) Menopause, Depression, and Suicide: Sport Participation as a Potential Protective Factor. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australian women aged 35-59, with women in their forties more likely to die by suicide than any other age group. Despite this, the focus for most suicide research is on youth and males. This age group (35-59) is when most women are, or begin, to go through menopause. Menopause is a natural decline in reproductive hormones and is associated with numerous physical (e.g., hot flushes) and psychological (e.g., mood changes) symptoms. Previous literature has suggested that due to fluctuating hormones and psychological symptoms, women at the beginning of menopause may be at greater risk of suicide than any other time in their life. Suicidality research has suggested that feelings of belonging and having a sense of connectedness are key suicide protective factors. Sport is a context where women can experience both, however little research has examined the relationship between sport and suicidal behaviours in menopausal athletes. This quantitative study seeks to help fill that gap in research and identify how social connectedness and a sense belonging may protect menopausal women from suicide. Using the ideation to action framework this study aims to use several self-report measures to investigate whether women who are menopausal and participate in sport are more likely to display lower levels of depression, psychache, hopelessness, burdensomeness, and suicidal behaviours than women who are menopausal and do not participate in sport.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Andrea Lamont-Mills |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 31 Jul 2025 23:47 |
| Last Modified: | 31 Jul 2025 23:47 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | suicide ; menopause ; sport ; social connectedness ; ideation-to-action |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52673 |
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