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The present study sought to examine how social problem solving and sexual assault are involved in suicidal risk in a sample of 221 female college students. Specifically, we were interested to examine whether sexual assault may play an additive as well as interactive role in the prediction of suicidal risk (viz., hopelessness and suicidal behaviors) above and beyond social problem solving. Results from regression analyses indicated that deficits in social problem solving, especially low positive problem orientation, and sexual assault were important and unique predictors of suicidal risk in female students. Moreover, we found support for a Social Problem Solving × Sexual Assault interaction in predicting hopelessness. Significant interactions emerged specifically for negative problem orientation and impulsivity/carelessness style. Some important implications of the present findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Research suggests that being unable to generate solutions to problems in times of distress may contribute to suicidal thoughts and behavior, and that depression is associated with problem-solving deficits. This study examined active and passive problem solving as moderators of the association between depressive symptoms and future suicidal ideation among suicide attempters and nonattempters. Method Young adults ( n = 324, 73% female, mean age = 19, standard deviation = 2.22) with ( n = 78) and without ( n = 246) a suicide attempt history completed a problem-solving task, self-report measures of hopelessness, depression, and suicidal ideation at baseline, and a self-report measure of suicidal ideation at 6-month follow-up. Results Passive problem solving was higher among suicide attempters but did not moderate the association between depressive symptoms and future suicidal ideation. Among attempters, active problem solving buffered against depressive symptoms in predicting future suicidal ideation. Conclusions Suicide prevention should foster active problem solving, especially among suicide attempters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective In the present study, we aim to test whether the approach or the avoidance coping skill can be a moderator between negative life events and suicide, and to test the deficient coping strain in the strain theory. Method This sample comprised 392 suicide cases and 416 community living controls, aged 15-34 years, from 16 rural counties in China. An established psychological autopsy method and a case-control design were used in this study. The 48-item Coping Response Inventory evaluated the degree of coping skills of the people who died by suicide. Results Results indicated that the avoidance coping skill, but not the approach coping skill, can moderate between negative life events and suicide. Conclusion The low level of the avoidance coping skill may represent a promising variable for screening for suicide risk in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are well-documented associations between adolescent depression, suicide-related thoughts, and interpersonal functioning, which include identified relations between these variables and insecure attachment. Dykas and Cassidy (2011) recently reframed traditional attachment theory into a social information processing model in which early caregiver experiences produce secure or insecure attachment-related schemas which, in turn, lead to biased social information processing. This model echoes Beck's cognitive theory, which suggests that negative schemas arise from negative experiences and act on daily life through negative thoughts about the self, the world, and others. No one has extended Dykas and Cassidy's (2011) model to the level of attachment-related thoughts to explore how attachment-related schemas relate to depressive cognitions. In this study, we sought preliminary evidence for this hypothesis with two specific aims. First, we sought to determine whether the relation between level of attachment security and depression was mediated by thoughts of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness, constructs of Joiner's Interpersonal Psychological theory. Second, we sought to evaluate whether the same constructs mediated the relation between level of attachment security and suicide-related thoughts. Analyses conducted with N = 124 inpatient adolescents revealed that level of maternal attachment insecurity was significantly correlated with thwarted belongingness, depression, and suicide-related thoughts. Thwarted belongingness mediated the relation between level of maternal attachment security and depression as well as the relation between attachment security and suicide-related thoughts. Thus, interpersonal risk factors for depression and suicide-related thoughts, like level of attachment insecurity, may be mitigated by addressing thoughts associated with thwarted belongingness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many suicidal people, the desire to die is moderated by a competing desire to live. This study aimed to demonstrate the ability of a wish-to-live versus wish-to-die index score to measure ambivalence and trichotomize suicidal inpatients into distinct stratified risk groups. Analyses revealed that index scores calculated for patients at treatment start significantly discriminated among the groups at index and uniquely predicted suicidal ideation, hopelessness, and depression scores across treatment. On average, patients with wish-to-live and wish-to-die orientations resolved suicidal ideation by discharge. Changes in suicidal ideation among ambivalently oriented patients were more variable. Clinical and research implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The studies presented compare two methodologies for categorizing suicidal patients based on clinical data. Discussion follows regarding implications for risk assessment and treatment. In these studies, 52 outpatient subjects were placed into different groups based on coding their “suicidal motivation” (Study 1) and their “internal struggle” ratings (Study 2) using data collected at intake. Self-report ratings of 6 Suicide Status Form (SSF) Core Constructs (Psychological Pain, Stress, Agitation, Hopelessness, Self-Hate, and Overall Risk of Suicide) recorded both at intake and at completion of treatment were then compared to determine differences in Core Construct ratings among groups at different time points. In Study 1, overall differences among motivation groups (Life-motivated, Ambivalent, and Death-motivated) were significant for ratings at treatment completion of Overall Risk of Suicide, Self-Hate, and Psychological Pain. In Study 2, overall differences among groups (Wish to live, Ambivalent, and Wish to die) were significant for ratings at intake of Overall Risk of Suicide. At completion of treatment, overall differences among groups were significant for ratings of Overall Risk of Suicide, Hopelessness, and Self-Hate. In addition, significant interactions were found between test time and group for Overall Risk of Suicide and Self-Hate. Results suggest that categorizing suicidal patients by motivation and by the nature of their internal struggle could be beneficial to differential risk assessment with implications for clinical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examined whether active problem solving would buffer against, whereas passive problem solving would exacerbate, the association of negative life stress with suicidal ideation. Young adult college students (73 females, Mage = 19.0) from a diverse urban public university, with (n = 37) and without (n = 59) a suicide attempt history completed measures of life stress, problem solving, hopelessness, depression, and suicidal ideation. Hierarchical linear regressions were conducted to test moderating roles of active and passive problem solving, along with suicide attempt history, on the relation between negative life event stress and suicidal ideation. There was a weaker relation between life stress and suicidal ideation at high and average levels of relevant problem solving than at low levels, and this was the case primarily for suicide attempters but not for non-attempters. Individuals with a past attempt produced more passive solutions than non-attempters, but among attempters, even passive problem solving buffered the association of life stress with suicidal ideation. Relevant problem solving in the face of life stress may be especially important for individuals vulnerable to suicidal ideation due to an attempt history. Among such at-risk individuals, generating even passive solutions in the face of life stress may be more adaptive than generating few solutions. Thus, clinical interventions with suicide attempters that focus on generating solutions to problems, even if these are initially passive, may help mitigate the effect of life stress on suicidal ideation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the authors describe CAMS-M, a novel approach to working therapeutically with suicidal psychiatric inpatients, with the goal of reducing the likelihood of future suicidal crises. CAMS-M, developed at The Menninger Clinic, is an adaptation of the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS), a novel framework with promising early research findings in outpatient settings (Jobes, 2006). Here, we provide a detailed description of CAMS-M, describe how it differs from CAMS in its original form, and discuss issues around implementation in a hospital setting. We conclude that CAMS-M holds considerable promise in risk management and therapeutic intervention with suicidal patients in the inpatient environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicidal probability is an actual tendency including negative self-evaluation, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, and hostility. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of psychosocial variances in the suicidal probability of adolescents, especially the role of mediating variance. This study investigated the mediating effects of psychosocial factors such as depression, anxiety, self-esteem, stress, and social support on the suicidal probability among 1,586 adolescents attending middle and high schools in the Kyunggi Province area of South Korea. The relationship between depression and anxiety/suicidal probability was mediated by both social resources and self-esteem. Furthermore, the influence of social resources was mediated by interpersonal and achievement stress as well as self-esteem. This study suggests that suicidal probability in adolescents has various relationships, including mediating relations, with several psychosocial factors. The interventions on suicidal probability in adolescents should focus on social factors as well as clinical symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]