Suicide-nearness assessed with PORT, the Percept-genetic Object-Relation Test: A replication and a reliability study

Self-esteem as a Moderator of the Effects of Happiness, Depression, and Hostility on Suicidality Among Early Adolescents in Korea

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of self-esteem as a moderator of the factors influencing suicidality among middle-schoolers.

Methods

Moderated multiple regression analysis was applied to assess the influence of happiness, depression, and hostility on suicidality and to determine the degree to which self-esteem served as a moderator of those relationships. Data were collected from 268 students at a middle school in Busan, Korea, using a self-administered structured questionnaire.

Results

Happiness, depression, and hostility had significant direct effects on suicidality. Self-esteem showed no direct effect, but had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between hostility and suicidal behavior.

Conclusions

These results suggest that various interventions, such as counseling programs, should be designed to alleviate hostility and depression and to enhance happiness and self-esteem among early adolescents.

Attachment Styles and Suicide-Related Behaviors in Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Self-Criticism and Dependency

Insecure attachment and the personality dimensions of self-criticism and dependency have been proposed as risk factors for suicide in adolescents. The present study examines whether self-criticism and dependency mediate the relationship between insecure attachment styles and suicidality. A sample of 340 high-school students (73.2% females), ranging in age from 13 to 20 years (M = 16.47, SD = 1.52), completed the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire for Adolescents, the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire for Adolescents, the Attachment Style Questionnaire, and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised. The results partially support the expected mediation effects. Self-criticism, but not dependency, mediates the link between insecure attachment (anxiety and avoidance) and suicide-related behaviors. Implications for suicide risk assessment and management are discussed.

Testing Models Relating Rejection, Depression, Interpersonal Needs, and Psychache to Suicide Risk in Nonclinical Individuals

OBJECTIVES

Using structural equation modeling, we tested a primary model of suicide risk and 3 competing, alternative models based on 4 psychological variables deemed important in the literature (perception of parental rejection, depression, interpersonal needs comprising perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, and psychache), in a nonclinical sample of Portuguese adults.

METHOD

A convenience sample of 203 adults (100 men, 103 women; aged 18-65 years) participated in this study.

RESULTS

Analyses demonstrated that the proposed primary model had the best fit to the observed data. The differences in fit indexes for this model and one of the alternative models, however, were not substantial.

CONCLUSION

Perceived parental rejection related directly to suicide risk and indirectly via depression and interpersonal needs. Depression linked indirectly to suicide risk via interpersonal needs and psychache. Interpersonal needs related directly to suicide risk and indirectly via psychache, which related directly to suicide risk.

Recollections of parental rejection, self-criticism and depression in suicidality

The present study examines whether self-criticism and depressive symptoms mediate the relationship between recollections of parental rejection and suicidality. A community sample of 200 Portuguese adults completed, in counterbalanced order, a socio-demographic questionnaire, the short form of the Inventory for Assessing Memories of Parental Rearing Behaviour (EMBU), the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and reports of any suicide intention and/or ideation and suicide attempts. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) indicated that recollections of parental rejection are significantly associated with depressive symptoms and suicidality. Recollections of parental rejection are indirectly associated with depressive symptoms and suicidality through self-criticism. The association between self-criticism and suicidality is mediated by depressive symptoms. In addition to a significant direct association between recollections of parental rejection and suicidality, the final model indicated that recollections of parental rejection are significantly associated with self-criticism. That same self-criticism is significantly associated with depressive symptoms which, in turn, are significantly associated with suicidality. Individuals with recollections of parental rejection are at greater risk for suicide ideation and behavior, possibly because such experiences predispose them to intense self-criticism which is a risk factor for depression associated with suicidal ideation and behavior.