Prevalence of suicidal ideation among married and cohabiting women in Sri Lanka: An analysis of the Sri Lanka Women’s Well-being Survey 2019

This study utilized the 2019 Women's Wellbeing Survey conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) in Sri Lanka to investigate the factors influencing suicidal ideation among married/cohabiting women. The study sample consists of secondary data from 1462 females, who were 15 years or older and currently married or living with a male partner, extracted from WWS 2019. Binary logistic regression was employed to analyze the association between suicidal ideation in married/cohabiting women and various independent variables. Among the respondents, 13.2% of married/cohabiting women reported having suicidal thoughts. Several factors were found to increase the likelihood of such ideation: a partner's extramarital affair, feelings of worthlessness and restlessness, partners consuming alcohol, experience of psychological violence and physical violence by the current partner, physical violence experienced since the age of 15, and childhood sexual violence. Conversely, lower odds of suicidal ideation were observed among women who married/cohabited between the ages of 20-29 compared to those in the 10-19 age category, and among unemployed women. This study emphasizes the urgency of addressing intimate partner violence, childhood sexual abuse, early marriages, and the mental well-being of vulnerable women, as these factors significantly impact their risk of life-threatening issues.