The Association Between the Suicide Crisis Syndrome and Suicidal Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Personality Traits

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Personality traits have been associated with long-term suicide risk but their relationship with short-term risk is still unknown. Therefore, to address this gap, we explored the moderating effect of personality traits on the relationship between the Suicide Crisis Syndrome (SCS) and short-term suicidal behaviors (SB). SAMPLING AND METHODS: Adult participants (N = 459) were administered the Suicide Crisis Inventory (SCI), a validated self-report questionnaire designed to measure the intensity of the Suicidal Crisis Syndrome, the Big Five Inventory for personality traits, and the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale for SB at intake and at a 1-month follow-up. The PROCESS macro in SPSS was used to test the moderation model. Covariates hypothesized to influence the results were added: age, gender, ethnicity, years of education, and depressive symptomatology on the Beck Depression Inventory. This study was a secondary analysis drawn from a larger study on the SCS. RESULTS: SCI total score had a significant positive relationship with SB at the 1-month follow-up for patients with lower levels of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, respectively. Hence, these four traits were protective against SB. There was an association between SCI and SB for patients with high levels of neuroticism at the 1-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: High levels of neuroticism served as a risk factor, whereas high levels of the other Big Five traits were protective factors against short-term SB in the context of elevated SCS symptoms. Thus, personality traits play a role in moderating the relationship between the SCS and imminent SB.