Can preferences in information processing aid in understanding suicide risk among emerging adults?

Identifying Chinese social media users' need for affect from their online behaviors

The need for affect (NFA), which refers to the motivation to approach or avoid emotion-inducing situations, is a valuable indicator of mental health monitoring and intervention, as well as many other applications. Traditionally, NFA has been measured using self-reports, which is not applicable in today's online scenarios due to its shortcomings in fast, large-scale assessments. This study proposed an automatic and non-invasive method for recognizing NFA based on social media behavioral data. The NFA questionnaire scores of 934 participants and their social media data were acquired. Then we run machine learning algorithms to train predictive models, which can be used to automatically identify NFA degrees of online users. The results showed that Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB) performed best among several algorithms. The Pearson correlation coefficients between predicted scores and NFA questionnaire scores achieved 0.25 (NFA avoidance), 0.31 (NFA approach) and 0.34 (NFA total), and the split-half reliabilities were 0.66-0.70. Our research demonstrated that adolescents' NFA can be identified based on their social media behaviors, and opened a novel way of non-intrusively perceiving users' NFA which can be used for mental health monitoring and other situations that require large-scale NFA measurements.

A psychometric assessment of the Military Suicide Attitudes Questionnaire (MSAQ)

Suicide rates remain high among military populations. Stigmatizing beliefs about suicide contribute to the problem of heightened suicide risk as a deterrent for help-seeking. Measurement of military suicide stigma is therefore an important gap in the literature as a necessity toward the development of military suicide prevention programming. This paper assessed the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Military Suicide Attitudes Questionnaire (MSAQ). Study 1 featured secondary analysis of a suicide risk dataset from active duty treatment-seeking military personnel (N = 200). Study 2 was a secondary analysis of a statewide assessment of Army National Guard service members' beliefs about mental health and suicide (N =1116). Factor analyses results collectively supported a four-factor Military Suicide Attitudes Questionnaire (MSAQ) structure: discomfort, unacceptability, support, and empathic views. Subscale reliabilities ranged from 0.77 to 0.83 across samples. Unacceptability and support displayed significant negative correlations with psychological distress. Men displayed more negative suicide-related beliefs compared to women counterparts. Discomfort and unacceptability beliefs displayed significant positive associations with perceived barriers to care. The final short version of the MSAQ is an efficient, multi-dimensional measure of military suicide-related beliefs. The instrument can be used for public health assessment and program evaluation in military settings.

Curiosity helps: Growth in need for cognition bidirectionally predicts future reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms across 10 years

INTRODUCTION

Decreased motivational tendency to seek out, engage in, and enjoy investing in complex cognitive processes in a sustained manner (need for cognition; NFC) may be a predictor and consequence of heightened anxiety and depression symptoms (ADS). However, the majority of investigations on this topic have been cross-sectional, which hinders causal inferences.

METHODS

The current study thus determined the within-person relations between NFC and ADS by using random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) and bivariate dual latent change score (BLCS) approaches to separate between- and within-person effects. RI-CLPM and BLCS also present with advantages of adjusting for regression to the mean, baseline scores, autoregressive and lagged effects, and minimizing measurement error. Community-dwelling adults (n = 6750) completed the Mental Health Inventory-5 and trait-level NFC scales approximately every one year across 10 years.

RESULTS

RI-CLPM showed that within persons, lower level of NFC predicted higher future level of ADS, and vice versa (d = -0.852 to -0.498). Likewise, BLCS demonstrated that within persons, smaller change in NFC forecasted larger subsequent increase in ADS, and conversely (d = -0.631 to -0.519). Findings remained after adjusting for socio-demographic covariates.

CONCLUSION

Consistent with theories, findings suggested that the within-person level-to-future level and change-to-future change relations among NFC and ADS were bi-directional and negative, with moderate-to-large effect sizes. Targeting NFC may treat or prevent the emergence of depression and anxiety disorders. Such efforts may include augmenting or personalizing evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapeutic strategies for individuals with or at-risk for heightened ADS.

Preferences in Information Processing: Understanding Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors among Active Duty Military Service Members

The present study examined Preferences in Information Processing (PIP), an emerging model of understanding suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs), in a clinical military sample for the first time. Constructs of need for affect (NFA; i.e., extent to which one engages or avoids emotional content) and need for cognition (NFC; i.e., extent of preference for and enjoyment of cognitive effort) are central individual differences of the PIP model hypothesized to be associated with STBs. Data (n = 200 active duty personnel) were drawn from medical records and self-report questionnaires from two outpatient treatment settings in a military hospital. Primary findings include: (1) moderate positive bivariate associations of NFA avoidance with mental health symptoms and lifetime STBs; (2) consistent patterns in which NFA approach buffers the negative associations of depression with life STBs, clinical suicide risk, perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belonging. Recommendations are offered for military suicide prevention, and future suicide theory testing.

Revealing semantic and emotional structure of suicide notes with cognitive network science

Understanding how people who commit suicide perceive their cognitive states and emotions represents an important open scientific challenge. We build upon cognitive network science, psycholinguistics and semantic frame theory to introduce a network representation of suicidal ideation as expressed in multiple suicide notes. By reconstructing the knowledge structure of such notes, we reveal interconnections between the ideas and emotional states of people who committed suicide through an analysis of emotional balance motivated by structural balance theory, semantic prominence and emotional profiling. Our results indicate that connections between positively- and negatively-valenced terms give rise to a degree of balance that is significantly higher than in a null model where the affective structure is randomized and in a linguistic baseline model capturing mind-wandering in absence of suicidal ideation. We show that suicide notes are affectively compartmentalized such that positive concepts tend to cluster together and dominate the overall network structure. Notably, this positive clustering diverges from perceptions of self, which are found to be dominated by negative, sad conceptual associations in analyses based on subject-verb-object relationships and emotional profiling. A key positive concept is "love", which integrates information relating the self to others and is semantically prominent across suicide notes. The emotions constituting the semantic frame of "love" combine joy and trust with anticipation and sadness, which can be linked to psychological theories of meaning-making as well as narrative psychology. Our results open new ways for understanding the structure of genuine suicide notes and may be used to inform future research on suicide prevention.

Making the Case for a Preferences in Information Processing Model of Suicide

Introduction: In recent years, practice friendly models of suicidal behavior have emerged in the form of “ideation-to-action” frameworks. These frameworks focus on processes influencing both the formation of suicidal ideation and the translation of that ideation to suicide attempt and death. In this paper, we proffer an emerging model of suicide, Preferences in Information Processing (PIP), to augment contemporary suicide theories. First, we provide a primer on dual-process models of information processing theory and research as the foundation for the PIP. Next, drawing on a number of initial cross-sectional studies, we outline a rationale and examples of how preferences in motivated affect (i.e., Need for Affect) and cognition (i.e., Need for Cognition) may be integrated into existing ideation-to-action frameworks. Methods: We conducted secondary analysis of our pooled community sample PIP data. Results: We present new findings suggesting Need for Affect avoidance and Need for Cognition may be clinically relevant for persons at escalated risk for suicide. Discussion: The PIP offers new testable propositions within ideation-to-action suicide frameworks. We end with recommendations for a research agenda to further investigate the potential validation and utility of a PIP approach to suicidology.

Multidimensional Models of Perfectionism and Procrastination: Seeking Determinants of Both

Background: Perfectionism is currently conceptualized using a multidimensional model, with extensive research establishing the presence of both maladaptive and adaptive forms. However, the potential adaptability of procrastination, largely considered as a maladaptive construct, and its possible developmental connection to perfectionism remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the individual differences of the multidimensional models of both perfectionism and procrastination, as well as investigating potential links between the two constructs. Methods: A convenience sample of 206 undergraduate students participated in this study. Participants completed a questionnaire consisting of 236 questions regarding the variables under investigation. Results: The adaptive model of procrastination yielded largely insignificant results and demonstrated limited links with adaptive perfectionism, while maladaptive procrastination was consistently associated with maladaptive perfectionism, lending further evidence of a unidimensional model of procrastination. Conclusions: Many previous findings regarding the multidimensional model of perfectionism were replicated, along with new contributions focusing on the dual-process model and temporal orientation.

Preferences in Information Processing, Marginalized Identity, and Non-Monogamy: Understanding Factors in Suicide-Related Behavior among Members of the Alternative Sexuality Community

Suicide-related behavior (SRB) is a mental health disparity experienced by the alternative sexuality community. We assessed mental health, relationship orientation, marginalized identities (i.e., sexual orientation minority, gender minority, racial minority, ethnic minority, and lower education), and preferences in information processing (PIP) as factors differentiating lifetime SRB groups. An online cross-sectional survey study was conducted in 2018. Members of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF; n = 334) took part. Bivariate analyses identified the following SRB risk factors: female and transgender/gender non-binary identity, sexual orientation minority identity, lower education, suicide attempt/death exposure, Need for Affect (NFA) Avoidance, depression, and anxiety. Monogamous relationship orientation was a protective factor. Multi-nomial regression revealed the following: (1) monogamous relationship orientation was a protective factor for suicidal ideation and attempt; (2) lower education was a risk factor for suicide attempt; (3) anxiety was a risk factor for suicide attempt; and (4) depression was a risk factor for suicidal ideation. A two-way interaction showed that elevated NFA Approach buffered the negative impacts of depression. Relationship orientation, several marginalized identities (i.e., based on gender, sexual orientation, and educational level), and PIP all contributed uniquely to SRB. Further study is necessary to understand the role of relationship orientation with suicide. Health education and suicide prevention efforts with NCSF should be tailored to account for marginalized identity, mental health, and NFA factors.

Need for Affect, Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide, and Suicide Proneness

The present study expands upon the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS), examining its relationship with the need for affect (NFA), a construct explaining attitudes toward seeking both positive and negative emotions. A sample of 576 emerging adults completed measures of NFA, IPTS, suicide proneness, and demographics online. Findings include NFA accounting for a small significant amount of suicide proneness, a positive association between approaching emotions and one indicator of suicide proneness, negative association between approaching emotions and thwarted belongingness, and positive associations between avoidance of emotions with both perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Findings are discussed concerning NFA as a theoretically and practically relevant factor for understanding suicide.

The Brief COPE: Factor Structure and Associations With Self- and Other-Directed Aggression Among Emerging Adults

The Brief COPE has seen frequent use across populations despite lack of confirmatory factor-analytic examination. We further examine Brief COPE validity with respect to self- and other-directed aggression because emerging adulthood represents a distinct developmental time period in which stress, poor coping, and aggression intersect. Drawing on archival data (n = 576) from a larger investigation of college student health, this cross-sectional survey study tested (1) four competing Brief COPE factor structures, (2) Brief COPE factor associations with aggression, and (3) stress by coping interactions predicting aggression outcomes. Prominent findings included (1) poor-to-marginal confirmatory factor-analytic support for a four-factor structure; (2) positive bivariate associations of avoidant coping with elevated stress, depression, suicide, self-injury, and aggression; (3) positive bivariate associations between adaptive coping strategies with stress and aggression; and (4) an interaction where avoidant coping has a stronger association with other-directed aggression for those low in stress. The interaction findings were significant for males only and applied specifically to hostility. Findings are contextualized within future Brief COPE research as well as emerging adulthood theory.

Identifying suicide risk among college students: A systematic review

Mental health research highlights the need to focus on suicide risk in college students. However, evidence for associated risk and protective factors in this cohort is mixed. This review synthesizes data from 29 independent studies (N = 11,557 participants). Self-reported depression, cumulative stressful life events, sleep difficulties, a disconnection from others, and a sense of hopelessness demonstrated significant associations with heightened suicide risk. Reasons to live and hope provided significant protective effects. The findings highlight key intervention targets, pointing to the importance of cognitive-behavioral interventions to ameliorate suicidal thoughts but also build dispositional hope and goal-directed thinking.

Preferences in Information Processing and suicide: Results from a young adult health survey in the United Kingdom

BACKGROUND

Suicide prevention literature currently suffers from inconsistent measurement and incomplete theoretical development.

AIMS

Using a recommended suicide measurement approach for epidemiological studies (i.e. the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R)), the present investigation assessed United Kingdom young adult suicide prevalence rates. This study also investigated the utility of a Preferences in Information Processing (PIP) model of suicide in identifying those at increased odds for elevated suicide risk, as well as lifetime ideation and attempt.

METHOD

A cross-sectional mental health and well-being survey study ( n = 414) was conducted.

RESULTS

The prevalence rates of elevated risk (49.8%), lifetime ideation only (55.3%) and lifetime attempt (13.5%) were high. Bivariate associations demonstrated that elevated depression, anxiety and Need for Affect (NFA) Avoidance were associated with worsened suicide outcomes, whereas elevated Need for Cognition (NFC) was associated with decreased suicide risk. Logistic regression results identified depression and NFA Avoidance as the strongest predictors of elevated suicide risk. Multinomial logistic regression results established several PIP-based moderation effects for depression and anxiety in which NFA Approach and NFC differentially influenced odds of suicide attempt group membership.

CONCLUSION

The SBQ-R is an appropriate tool for UK young adult suicide research. NFA and NFC demonstrated potential for inclusion in young adult suicide prevention programming. Further research is needed to fully evaluate the PIP model of suicide and effectiveness of proposed theory-based approaches to suicide prevention.

Denial of disordered eating behaviors, suicide, and non-suicidal self-injury in young women

This study assessed the unique explanatory power of denial of disordered eating in understanding non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidality. Undergraduate women (N = 360) completed an online survey about NSSI, suicide risk, disordered eating behaviors, and denial of disordered eating. Denial of disordered eating was associated with NSSI and suicidality above and beyond engagement in disordered eating alone and demographic covariates. This study provided support that denial of disordered eating behaviors assists in understanding risk for NSSI and suicidality. Campus programing might include psychoeducation about the negative consequences of denial and emphasize the importance of disclosure to trusted confidants.

Traumatic brain injury and lifetime suicidality: Applying the interpersonal-psychological theory perspective

The present article investigates the traumatic brain injury (TBI)-suicide link, assessing whether (a) TBI accounts for variance in suicide risk, and (b) the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide can be applied to TBI status. Matched case-control procedures applied to archival college student health data identified TBI and non-TBI subsamples (84 total). Individuals with a TBI possessed higher suicide risk than those without. Even accounting for the relative influence of strong suicide risk factors (i.e., depression, perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and acquired capability), TBI was robustly associated with suicide risk. TBI history would be valuable to ascertain in assessing suicide risk.