Examining the Interrelationships Among Suicide Cognitions, Suicidal Ideation, and Theoretically Derived Protective Factors

Abstract

Introduction

Several protective factors for mitigating suicidal ideation (SI) such as positive affect, reasons for living, purpose in life, meaning in life, gratitude, grit, optimism, social support, and hope have been identified and received empirical support. However, few studies have examined the interrelationships of these protective factors and the identification of protective factors most closely linked to lower levels of SI may be useful for both theory-building initiatives and improvement of suicide-specific interventions. Network analysis offers an approach for testing the relation among these constructs, SI, and suicide risk factors.

Methods

A sample N = 557 undergraduate students oversampled for lifetime SI completed a cross-sectional, online survey. The data was used to estimate an undirected, cross-sectional network of the aforementioned protective factors.

Results

The resulting inferred network implicates strong negative influence of suicide cognitions, but not recent SI, and the strong positive influence of presence of meaning in life, trait hope, and low negative affect.

Conclusions

Implications for dimensionality of SI versus suicide cognitions, targeting presence of meaning in life, trait hope, and negative affect in treatment, and cross-cultural variations in reasons for living are discussed. The study is limited by the cross-sectional and convenience sampling methodology.

Highlights

• Protective factors may have less direct influence on suicidal ideation

• Suicide cognitions and the suicidal mode may be of phenomenological importance

• Presence of meaning and trait hope may be primary targets for suicide interventions

Keywords:

• Network analysis
• protective factors
• suicidal ideation
• suicide cognitions

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Research data are not shared. The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

ETHICAL APPROVAL

The data collection for this study was approved by the Louisiana State University Institutional Review Board (IRB) and all participants included in analyses provided written informed consent for participation in the parent study.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Notes

1 R Code may be found here: DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/WBM83

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicolas Oakey-Frost

Nicolas Oakey-Frost, Tovah Cowan, Emma H. Moscardini, Sarah Pardue-Bourgeois, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Derek de Beurs, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, CR, The Netherlands. Alex Cohen, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Craig J. Bryan, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Raymond P. Tucker, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.

Tovah Cowan

Nicolas Oakey-Frost, Tovah Cowan, Emma H. Moscardini, Sarah Pardue-Bourgeois, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Derek de Beurs, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, CR, The Netherlands. Alex Cohen, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Craig J. Bryan, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Raymond P. Tucker, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.

Emma H. Moscardini

Nicolas Oakey-Frost, Tovah Cowan, Emma H. Moscardini, Sarah Pardue-Bourgeois, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Derek de Beurs, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, CR, The Netherlands. Alex Cohen, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Craig J. Bryan, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Raymond P. Tucker, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.

Sarah Pardue-Bourgeois

Nicolas Oakey-Frost, Tovah Cowan, Emma H. Moscardini, Sarah Pardue-Bourgeois, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Derek de Beurs, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, CR, The Netherlands. Alex Cohen, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Craig J. Bryan, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Raymond P. Tucker, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.

Derek de Beurs

Nicolas Oakey-Frost, Tovah Cowan, Emma H. Moscardini, Sarah Pardue-Bourgeois, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Derek de Beurs, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, CR, The Netherlands. Alex Cohen, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Craig J. Bryan, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Raymond P. Tucker, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.

Alex Cohen

Nicolas Oakey-Frost, Tovah Cowan, Emma H. Moscardini, Sarah Pardue-Bourgeois, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Derek de Beurs, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, CR, The Netherlands. Alex Cohen, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Craig J. Bryan, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Raymond P. Tucker, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.

Craig J. Bryan

Nicolas Oakey-Frost, Tovah Cowan, Emma H. Moscardini, Sarah Pardue-Bourgeois, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Derek de Beurs, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, CR, The Netherlands. Alex Cohen, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Craig J. Bryan, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Raymond P. Tucker, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.

Raymond P. Tucker

Nicolas Oakey-Frost, Tovah Cowan, Emma H. Moscardini, Sarah Pardue-Bourgeois, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Derek de Beurs, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, CR, The Netherlands. Alex Cohen, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. Craig J. Bryan, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA. Raymond P. Tucker, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.