Citation

Millner AJ, Augenstein TM, Visser KH, Gallagher K, Vergara GA, D'Angelo EJ, Nock K. Arch. Suicide Res. 2019; 23(1): 47-63.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry , Children's Hospital Boston , Boston , MA , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, International Academy of Suicide Research, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13811118.2017.1421488

PMID

29482489

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Using self-harm Implicit Association Tests (IATs), we sought to test whether (1) suicidal adolescents show implicit identification with self-harm and whether (2) IATs are reliable and sensitive to psychiatric change and (3) predict future suicide attempts.

METHODS: We administered six self-harm IATs to 71 adolescents from a psychiatric inpatient unit and assessed suicidal behaviors at admission, discharge and three-months after discharge.

RESULTS: Results were in the expected direction for each IAT but not statistically significant. After aggregating trials across IATs, suicide attempters showed increased implicit identification with self-harm, compared with non-suicidal controls. IATs showed good reliability and sensitivity to psychiatric change but did not prospectively predict suicide attempts.

CONCLUSIONS: Adolescent suicide attempters may have stronger implicit associations with self-harm than non-suicidal controls.

Language: en

Keywords

IAT; implicit association; prediction; suicide