Citation

Cramer RJ, Tucker R. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021; 18(3): e1027.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph18031027

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

World Health Organization data show that approximately 800,000 persons die by suicide each year [1]. Moreover, suicide trends remain stable or are increasing across many nations. In light of the global concern posed by suicide, decades of research have been devoted to identifying factors that place people at risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). Despite these efforts, a recent meta-analysis demonstrated that most risk factors do little better than chance in predicting future STBs [2]. Suicide resilience factors were not better predictors of suicide either; however, they have been dramatically understudied according to this synthesis of the literature. Thus, this Special Issue includes articles that attempt to increase the field's understanding of suicide resilience. Clement and colleagues [3] investigate the interrelationships between hope, optimism, hopelessness, and grit, as well as their collective relationship to suicidal ideation. In a cross-sectional sample of undergraduate college students, the authors used exploratory factor analytic techniques to determine how these risk and resilience factors relate at both the subscale and item level. The authors demonstrated a single-factor solution for these measures when subscale scores were entered; however, when all items across the scales were factor analyzed together, five separate subscales emerged that did not represent the original five scales. These newly defined subscales had differential relationships with suicidal ideation, demonstrating that a potential reconceptualization of positive future thinking styles may be needed to better understand suicide resilience.

The presence of positive future thinking such as hope is a clear correlate of indicators of mental well-being in a variety of samples [4]. Russel, Rasmussen, and Hunter [5] extend research on mental well-being and risk of STBs in a longitudinal sample of adolescents assessed at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Their investigation demonstrates that mental well-being appears protective against eventual thoughts of self-harm and self-harm behaviors through a reduction in feelings of defeat and entrapment. This investigation through the lens of the Integrated Motivational Volitional model of suicide (IMV) [6] provides a useful framework of understanding how upstream suicide prevention efforts that foster broader mental well-being may impact risk of self-harm and suicide.

Although a broad framework such as IMV may inform suicide prevention efforts, unique resilience factors exist in underrepresented populations...

Language: en