Abstract: Objective To explore the relationship among perceived ageism, perceived stress, perceived social support, and suicide ideation in elderly people in the nursing home. Methods 326 seniors aged 60 and older in the pension institution were selected to fulfill the Perceived Ageism Scale（PAS）,Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS), Perceived social supports scale（PSSS）and Self-Rating Idea of Suicide Scale (SIOSS). Nonparametric tests, Harman one-factor test, Spearman’s correlation analysis test and Model4 and Model14 in the PROCESS version 3.2 macro program were used to perform statistical tests on the data, respectively. Results （1）Suicide ideation was positively correlated with perceived ageism and perceived stress（r=0.367、r=0.618, P<0.001）and negatively with perceived social support（r=-0.415, P<0.001）.（2）Perceived stress played a partially mediating role between perceived ageism and suicide ideation, accounting for 51.5% of the total effect. （3）Perceived social support moderated the mediated effect of the second half path (β=-0.152, P<0.001). Conclusion Perceived ageism suffered by elderly people in the nursing home may directly affect suicide ideation and indirectly affect suicide ideation through the mediating effect of perceived stress. Perceived social support moderates the relationship between perceived stress and suicide ideation.

Key words: perceived ageism, perceived stress, perceived social support, suicide ideation