Personality traits in suicidal and homicidal subjects with schizophrenia

Abstract

Paranoid schizophrenia is characterised by an increased risk of suicide and homicide. Little is known about the influence of personality dimensions as determinants for suicidal and homicidal behaviour within this condition. We assessed the differences among suicidal, homicidal and non-aggressive adult male in-patients with ICD-10 paranoid schizophrenia. The clinical assessments included structured psychiatric interviews and reports on harmful alcohol use and suicide attempts. The personality dimensions were assessed with the Big Five Inventory-10. The study recruited 264 patients divided into three groups: suicide attempters (N = 62), homicide group (N = 70), and a comparative control group (N = 132). To examine how the clinical subgroups differed from the comparative sample in the studied variables, a multinomial regression was performed. Each subgroup was considered a nominal outcome variable and the log odds of the outcomes were modelled as a linear combination of the predictor variables. Neuroticism or emotional instability was the only personality dimension that was different among the study subgroups: a lower level of neuroticism was found in the homicide group. Other risk factors such as age, education, relationship status and history of self-aggressive behaviour could potentially distinguish these subgroups of paranoid schizophrenia patients.

Keywords:

• Paranoid schizophrenia
• suicide
• homicide
• personality
• neuroticism