Comparisons of Prisoners Who Make or Do Not Make Suicide Attempts and Further Who Make One or Multiple Attempts

Abstract

Suicidal behavior among prisoners is a major problem. The objective of this study was to compare prisoners who have made an attempt at suicide vs non-attempters and further to compare single vs multiple suicide attempts. Among 1,537 prisoners, 200 (13%) had a lifetime history of attempting suicide and 92 (6%) had made multiple attempts. Those who had made multiple or single attempts were compared on socio-demographic, developmental, personality, forensic, and psychiatric variables. In a re-analysis we also compared non-attempters with attempters in this larger sample. The comparison showed that prisoners who had made multiple attempts had experienced significantly more childhood trauma, were more introverted, less resilient, had a history of self-mutilation, and had more suicidal ideation. Anger and hostility scores and criminal and violence histories significantly differentiated prisoners who had attempted from those who had never attempted but they did not differentiate multiple from single attempters. Having a history of multiple attempts may be indicative of more severe psychopathology in prisoners, as found in other populations. These findings may be helpful in predicting which prisoner is at increased risk of exhibiting suicidal behavior while incarcerated and after release.

Keywords:

• attempt
• prisoners
• suicide

Notes

Values are Mean±SD.

P values are those of t-tests used to compare groups.

Asterisks indicate the threshold values of the correlation coefficient used as an effect size index:

*0.1: small.

**0.3: medium.

***0.5: large.

Note. Values are frequencies in each population, expressed as percentages.

P values are those of chi-square tests used to compare groups.

Asterisks indicate the threshold values of the fourfold point correlation coefficient (phi) used as an effect size index:

*0.1: small.

**0.3: medium.

***0.5: large.

Note. The P values are those of chi-square tests.

Asterisks indicate the threshold values of the fourfold point correlation coefficient (Phi) used as an effect size index:

*0.1: small.

**0.3: medium.

***0.5: large.

95% CI: Odds ratio 95% confidence interval.

^†Marc Branchey is now deceased.

No author has any conflict of interest to declare.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alec Roy

Alec Roy, MD; Department of Psychiatry of VA Medical Center New Jersey, East Orange, New Jersey, USA.

Vladimir Carli

Vladimir Carli, Karolinska Institute, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden.

Marco Sarchiapone

Marco Sarchiapone, University of Molise, Campobasso, Italy.

Marc Branchey ^†

Marc Branchey, Department of Psychiatry of VA Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA.