Associations between personality traits and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in patients with personality disorders

• Published in: Comprehensive psychiatry Vol. 112; p. 152284
• Main Authors: Boot, Katja, Wiebenga, Jasper X.M., Eikelenboom, Merijn, van Oppen, Patricia, Thomaes, Kathleen, van Marle, Hein J.F., Heering, Henriette D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.01.2022; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Big Five personality traits; Comorbidity; Gender; Humans; Impulsivity; Likert scale; Mental disorders; NEO-FFI; Personality; Personality disorder; Personality disorders; Personality Disorders - diagnosis; Personality Disorders - epidemiology; Personality traits; Post traumatic stress disorder; Prospective Studies; Risk Factors; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide attempt; Suicide, Attempted; Suicides & suicide attempts; Validity; Variables; Big Five personality traits; Suicidal ideation; Personality disorder; NEO-FFI; Suicide attempt
• ISSN: 0010-440X; 1532-8384
• DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2021.152284

People with personality disorders (PDs) have an elevated suicide risk. However, correlates of suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA) remain largely unknown in this population. A growing body of literature highlights the contribution of the Big Five personality traits in suicide-outcomes. Therefore, the present study investigates the association between the Big Five personality traits and SI and SA in people with PDs while applying the ideation-to-action framework. Data were obtained from 105 treatment-seeking individuals diagnosed with PDs participating in the Trauma tO Personality Spectrum Study (TOPSS). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the association between the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and the three category suicide-outcome: non-suicidal, SI, and SA. After controlling for age, gender, a comorbid depressive disorder, the severity of borderline manifestations, and other personality traits from the Big Five taxonomy, significantly lower levels of extraversion were observed in participants with SI compared to non-suicidal participants (OR = 0.27, 95% CI 0.10–0.72) but not in SA participants. In contrast, higher levels of extraversion were associated with SA when compared to SI (OR = 3.52, 95% CI 1.33–9.32). Other Big Five traits were not independently associated with suicide-outcomes. Of the Big Five traits, the introversion-extraversion dimension most clearly distinguishes individuals with SI from non-suicidal individuals, as well as those with a SA in the past from those with SI only. Prospective studies are required to investigate if this personality trait can predict the progression from being non-suicidal to having SI and from having SI to performing an attempt. •Few correlates of suicide ideation and attempts have been identified in individuals with personality disorders.•Interest in associations between Big Five traits and suicide-outcomes is increasing.•Individuals with suicidal ideation only were more likely to have lower extraversion than non-suicidal individuals.•Individuals with suicide attempts were more likely to have higher extraversion than individuals with only suicidal ideation.•Other Big Five traits were not associated with suicidal ideation or suicide attempts.