Citation

Shelef L, Brunstein Klomek A, Yavnai N, Shahar G. Crisis 2018; 39(2): 144-148.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

10.1027/0227-5910/a000481

PMID

28990825

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Intent to die is an important component of suicide risk assessment. The authors compared the predictive effect of two forms of stress - military and perceived - in intent to die by suicide among young adult Israeli soldiers with a history of suicide attempts. Depression, suicide ideation, and habituation/acquired capacity for suicidality served as covariates.

METHODS: Participants were 60 young adult soldiers in the Israeli Defense Force (ISF; aged 18-21 years), who made a suicide attempt during their military service. Study variables were assessed using self-report measures.

RESULTS: Intent to die by suicide correlated with suicide ideation, habituation/acquired capacity, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress. In a multiple regression analysis, perceived stress predicted intent to die (b =.44, p =.002) over and above the prediction by suicide ideation (b =.42, p =.013) and acquired capacity/habituation (b =.28, p =.023). LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design restricts causal inference. In addition, an exclusive reliance on self-report measures might have inflated shared method variance.

CONCLUSIONS: Perceived stress captures a unique dimension of intent to die by suicide among young suicide attempters.

Language: en

Keywords

acquired capacity; army stress; intent to die; military soldiers; perceived stress; suicide ideation