Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul 19;11(14):4177.
doi: 10.3390/jcm11144177.

Risk-Taking Behavior among Suicide Attempters

Nasrin Abdoli  1 , Nader Salari  1   2   3 , Vahid Farnia  1 , Mehdi Khodamoradi  1 , Somayeh Jahangiri  1 , Masoud Mohammadi  4 , Annette Beatrix Brühl  5 , Dena Sadeghi-Bahmani  3   5   6 , Serge Brand  1   3   5   7   8
Affiliations

Risk-Taking Behavior among Suicide Attempters

Nasrin Abdoli et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background: Suicidal behavior is a major mental health concern both for the individual and for the public health. Among others, suicidal behavior is associated with impulsivity, risk taking, pain tolerance, and a state of overarousal. In the present study, we investigated if suicide attempters (SAs) reported higher scores for risk-taking when compared with healthy controls (HC) of the general population.

Methods: A total of 616 individuals (mean age: 27.07 years; 51.5% females) took part in the study; of those, 240 (39%) were individuals with a suicide attempt (SA) within a time lapse of one to three months, and 376 (61%) were healthy controls (HC). Participants completed a series of self-rating questionnaires covering sociodemographic information, risk-taking (Risk-Taking Questionnaire 18; RT-18), and suicidal behavior (Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised; SBQ-R).

Results: Compared with HCs, individuals with SA reported higher risk-taking and suicidal behavior scores. The risk-taking questionnaire yielded a four-factor solution: Thrill and sensation seeking; Cautious procedure; Cautious decision making; Impulsive behavior. Compared with HCs, SAs showed the highest scores for thrill and sensation seeking and impulsive behavior.

Conclusions: Compared with healthy controls, individuals reporting a recent suicide attempt also reported a higher propensity to thrill and sensation seeking and impulsive behavior as a proxy of risk-taking behavior. The present results corroborate the notion that, among others, suicide attempts appeared to be less related to premeditation, but rather to impulsive and thus spontaneous behavior.

Keywords: risk-taking behavior; suicidal behavior; suicide attempts.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Gvion Y., Levi-Belz Y., Hadlaczky G., Apter A. On the role of impulsivity and decision-making in suicidal behavior. World J. Psychiatry. 2015;5:255–259. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v5.i3.255. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Heron M. Deaths: Leading Causes for 2013. Natl. Vital Stat Rep. 2016;65:1–95. - PubMed
    1. Calati R., Nemeroff C.B., Lopez-Castroman J., Cohen L.J., Galynker I. Candidate biomarkers of suicide crisis syndrome: What to test next? A concept paper. Int. J. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2019;23:192–205. doi: 10.1093/ijnp/pyz063. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jahangard L., Solgy R., Salehi I., Taheri S.K., Holsboer-Trachsler E., Haghighi M., Brand S. Cholecystokinin (CCK) level is higher among first time suicide attempters than healthy controls, but is not associated with higher depression scores. Psychiatry Res. 2018;266:40–46. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2018.05.031. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ahmadpanah M., Astinsadaf S., Akhondi A., Haghighi M., Sadeghi Bahmani D., Nazaribadie M., Jahangard L., Holsboer-Trachsler E., Brand S. Early maladaptive schemas of emotional deprivation, social isolation, shame and abandonment are related to a history of suicide attempts among patients with major depressive disorders. Compr. Psychiatry. 2017;77:71–79. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2017.05.008. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources