The Impact of Homelessness, Social Support, and Mental Health on Suicide Ideation Among Immigrant Women

Background: Suicidal ideation remains a persistent and complex public health concern, particularly among immigrant women who face intersecting structural and psychosocial stressors such as housing instability, limited access to mental health care, economic precarity, insufficient social support, and systemic exclusion. These factors collectively instigate psychological distress and exacerbate their vulnerability to suicidal thoughts. Despite the significance of these intersecting vulnerabilities, immigrant women remain significantly underrepresented in empirical research on suicidality. This gap constrains the development of targeted interventions that are both culturally responsive and structurally informed. To address this critical gap, the current study investigates how homelessness intersects with mental health status, social support, and economic vulnerability to predict suicidal ideation among women.

Method: This study utilized secondary data from the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area Drug Study (DC*MADS, 1991), conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. A total of 95 participants with complete data on all study variables were selected. Suicidal ideation served as the dependent variable, while homelessness, income, mental health status, and social support were used as independent variables. Gender, race (used as a proxy for immigrant status), age, and marital status were included as control variables. Binary logistic regression was conducted using IBM SPSS (v28), with model fit assessed through Chi-square, Nagelkerke R², and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test. Statistical significance was set at (p < .05).

Results: The final analytic sample (N = 95) included 66.6% (n=601) male and 33.4% (n=301) female participants, with 78.6% (n=707) identifying as non-white, and 21.4% (n = 193) were white. Most were unmarried 87% (765) while 13% (n= 114) were married or in a relationship. Income level showed that 85.3% (n=753) reported adequate income, whereas 14.7% (n=130) indicated low income. Only 6.2% (n=56) experienced homelessness, while 5.9% (n=53) reported mental health conditions. Access to social support was reported by 88.1% (n=347) while 11.9% (n=47) reported having no social support. Suicidal ideation was reported by 38.1% (n= 86) while 61.9% (n=140) reported no such experience.

The full model was statistically significant (χ² = 17.113, p = .029), explaining 22.5% of the variance in suicidal ideation (Nagelkerke R² = 0.225). Gender was a significant predictor, with women more likely to report suicidal thoughts (OR = 0.241, p = .009). Although homelessness (OR = 4.121, p = .078) and race (OR = 4.433, p = .071) showed elevated odds, they were not statistically significant predictor of suicide ideation. Other predictors, including mental health, income, and social support, were also not statistically significant in predicting suicidal ideation.

Conclusion: The result shows that gender, homelessness, and racial identity collectively influence suicidal thoughts among immigrant women. Although not all predictors were statistically significance, however, the elevated odds ratios indicated that structural vulnerabilities increased psychological distress. These findings call for intersectional and equity-based strategies in suicide prevention, policy development, and service delivery for marginalized populations.