@article{ref1,
title="Character configuration, major depressive episodes, and suicide-related ideation among Japanese undergraduates",
journal="PLoS one",
year="2021",
author="Takanobu, Keisuke and Mitsui, Nobuyuki and Watanabe, Shinya and Toyoshima, Kuniyoshi and Fujii, Yutaka and Kako, Yuki and Asakura, Satoshi and Kusumi, Ichiro",
volume="16",
number="5",
pages="e0251503-e0251503",
abstract="AIM: To enable early identification of university students at high risk for suicide, we examined personality as a predictive factor for major depressive episodes and suicide-related ideation. <br><br>METHODS: From 2011 to 2013, we administered the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) to 1,997 university students at enrollment (T1). We previously conducted a study using the same data set; this is a re-analysis of the dataset. To prevent contamination of data, participants diagnosed with a depressive episode were excluded at T1. Three years after enrollment (T2), we re-administered the PHQ-9 to the same students. We statistically compared TCI scores at T1 among depressive episode groups and suicide-related ideation groups. Two-way ANOVA and Cochran-Armitage trend tests were used to analyze the relationships between personality traits, depressive episodes, and suicide-related ideation. <br><br>RESULTS: The PHQ-9 summary scores at baseline (T1) were 3.0 (±2.7), with female students scoring 4.6 (±2.9) and male students 2.9 (±2.6, p = 0.025). The major depressive episode group at T2 had lower self-directedness (SD) scores at T1 than the non-depressive episode control group. The suicide-related ideation (SI) group at T2 also had higher harm avoidance (HA), lower SD, and lower cooperativeness (C) scores than the non-SI group at T1. The Cochran-Armitage trend tests revealed significant associations between character configurations composed of SD and C, and both depressive episodes at T2 and SI at T2. <br><br>CONCLUSION: The temperament feature of high HA at baseline and character configurations of low SD and low C at baseline are the most contributory predictors for the novel development of depressive episodes and SI among Japanese university students.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1932-6203",
doi="10.1371/journal.pone.0251503",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251503"
}