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Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the mechanisms of the development of suicidal ideation and its moderating and protective factors. Drawing on the Interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide, we proposed that disruptions to belongingness, in conjunction with tolerance of health risk, may influence the development of suicidal ideation above and beyond psychosocial changes such as disruptions to finances and work., Methods: The study involved a longitudinal investigation of an Australian representative sample reporting suicidal ideation fortnightly for 12 weeks between March and June 2020., Results: The results indicated that participants who reported higher levels of belongingness, mastery, and intolerance of health risk were less likely to experience suicidal ideation and had lower severity of suicidal ideation. Mastery significantly strengthened the negative link between belongingness and the incidence of suicidal ideation, while agreeableness significantly strengthened the negative link between belongingness and the severity of suicidal ideation over time., Conclusion: The findings suggest that supporting effective social connectedness during times of isolation and promoting self-efficacy, mastery, and regulation of risk tolerance, may be crucial for suicide prevention and therapeutic intervention., (© 2024 The Authors. Suicide and Life‐Threatening Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association of Suicidology.)

Background: The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior (IPTS) posits that the joint presence of perceived burdensomeness (PB), thwarted belongingness (TB), and capability for suicide (CS) is necessary for suicide attempt. Emerging evidence demonstrates these effects are not consistently observed. Psychopathology may independently impact on the explanatory power of the IPTS constructs., Aims: The aims of the current study were to assess whether the inclusion of psychopathology indicators into the IPTS explains additional variance in recent suicide attempt and to assess the relative influence of interpersonal-psychological constructs versus mental illness on suicide attempt., Method: Australian adults (N = 1,323; 77% female) who reported suicidal ideation in the past year were recruited using social media advertising to complete an online cross-sectional survey., Results: None of the predicted IPTS interactions was significantly associated with recent suicide attempt, although PB and CS had significant independent associations. The addition of psychopathology indicators to the IPTS model explained significant additional variation in suicide attempt (18% vs. 14%)., Conclusions: The influence of psychopathology on suicide attempt may be insufficiently explained by interpersonal-psychological constructs. The IPTS may have greater explanatory power to identify transitions from suicidal ideation to suicide attempt after accounting for mental illness., (© 2020 The American Association of Suicidology.)

Objective: To test the effectiveness of a male-targeted upstream public health intervention in increasing help-seeking intentions for mental disorders and suicide in an adolescent population., Method: A two-arm controlled trial was conducted with 10 schools in the Australian Capital Territory. A total of 594 male adolescents aged between 16 and 18 years participated in the study. Participants in the intervention condition received the single session Silence is Deadly program, while participants in the control condition completed usual classes. All participants completed a pre-intervention, post-intervention, and a 6- to 12-week follow-up survey assessing help-seeking intentions, attitudes, and behaviors., Results: At follow-up, the Silence is Deadly program was found to significantly increase help-seeking intentions from friends, which was in line with the program's messaging to seek help from and provide support to friends in times of distress or suicide risk. The program did not have an effect on help-seeking intentions for other sources of help or on help-seeking attitudes and behavior., Conclusions: The present study provides preliminary support for male-targeted public health interventions for suicide that use male-focused norming and role modeling to improve help-seeking in this population., (© 2020 American Association of Suicidology.)

Objective: Few measures have been developed to assess the efficacy of community-based suicide prevention and recovery services. The current study aimed to develop a scale to provide accurate assessment and monitoring of functional recovery for people following a recent suicide attempt at The Way Back Support Service in Australia., Method: The study was conducted in multiple iterative stages: (1) literature review to identify existing scales; (2) structured informant interview with people with lived experience of a suicide attempt; (3) expert survey of researchers, clinicians, and people with lived experience on relevance and acceptability of candidate items; and (4) quantitative survey of the pilot scale to assess psychometric properties., Results: An 11-item scale assessing recovery in people who have recently attempted suicide was demonstrated to be a unidimensional measure with sound psychometric properties (α = 0.94). The scale was highly acceptable to researchers, clinicians, and people with lived experience. A short-form 6-item scale was also developed., Conclusions: The Functioning and Recovery Scale is likely to be useful for evaluating suicide prevention programs. No existing scale captures the broad construct of psychosocial functioning with sound psychometric rigor and the involvement of people with lived experience of suicide attempt., (© 2020 The American Association of Suicidology.)

Objective: The aim of the current study was to use a 23-item bank of self-reported symptoms of suicidal thoughts and behaviors to develop new brief measures of suicide risk using data-driven methods. Collectively referred to as the Rapid Measurement Toolkit for Suicidality (RMTS), the new brief static and adaptive measures would allow more efficient screening for suicide risk in clinical and research settings., Method: Data for the current study consist of 3,175 Australian adults who form the development sample and 3,755 Australian adults who form the validation sample. Both samples were independently recruited online using Facebook advertisements. Item response theory (IRT) was applied to the 23-item suicide item bank to develop a brief static dimensional measure and to simulate various computerized adaptive algorithms., Results: A 5-item brief static dimensional screener was developed, which performed as well as the commonly used Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R), with marginally greater sensitivity and more information across the continuum of suicidality. An adaptive screener required a mean of 6.2 items and correlated 0.98 with the full item bank., Conclusions: The RMTS provides reliable and valid brief static and adaptive screeners for the measurement of suicide risk in community, research, and clinical settings., (© 2019 The American Association of Suicidology.)

Objective: The aims of this study were to (1) investigate levels and correlates of suicide stigma and suicide literacy in a sample of individuals attending a tertiary depression clinic in Australia (N = 287), with comparison to a community-based Australian sample (N = 1,410), and (2) validate measures of suicide stigma and literacy in a clinical sample., Method: Australian adults (N = 287) aged 18-78 years referred by their general practitioners for assessment at a psychiatric clinic for patients with difficult-to-treat mood disorders were recruited to complete a survey, including measures of suicide literacy, suicide stigma, mental health symptoms, and demographics., Results: Compared to the Australian community sample, participants in the clinical sample reported lower suicide literacy, lower suicide stigma, greater glorification of suicide, and greater attribution of suicide to isolation. Suicide ideation was associated with greater glorification of suicide. Females had higher suicide literacy and lower suicide stigma than males. The psychometric properties of the suicide stigma measure appeared to be robust and consistent with previous evaluations., Conclusion: Given the low levels of suicide literacy in this clinical sample, suicide prevention initiatives designed for community settings may also be important in clinical settings., (© 2018 The American Association of Suicidology.)

It remains unclear whether the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS; Joiner, ) is generalizable to the population or holds more explanatory power for certain subgroups compared to others. The aim of this study was to (1) identify subgroups of individuals who endorsed suicide ideation in the past month based on a range of mental health and demographic variables, (2) compare levels of the IPTS constructs within these subgroups, and (3) test the IPTS predictions for suicide ideation and suicide attempt for each group. Latent class, negative binomial, linear, and logistic regression analyses were conducted on population-based data obtained from 1,321 adults recruited from Facebook. Among participants reporting suicide ideation, four distinct patterns of risk factors emerged based on age and severity of mental health symptoms. Groups with highly elevated mental health symptoms reported the highest levels of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness. Tests of the IPTS interactions provided partial support for the theory, primarily in young adults with elevated mental health symptoms. Lack of support found for the IPTS predictions across the subgroups and full sample in this study raise some questions around the broad applicability of the theory., (© 2018 The American Association of Suicidology.)

This study assessed the independent contributions of nine common mental disorders on suicide ideation and suicide attempt. A community-based survey of Australian adults (N = 3,175) was conducted to identify common mental disorders associated with recent suicide attempt. Nine disorders were assessed using DSM-5 clinical criteria. Logistic regression models indicated that all disorders were significantly and independently associated with suicide ideation. However, only obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder were significantly associated with suicide attempt among participants with ideation, independently of other disorders (OR = 2.0 for both). Increasing comorbidity had a significant monotonic association with suicide ideation but not attempts., (© 2017 The American Association of Suicidology.)

The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior suggests that the combination of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness predicts suicidal ideation. However, the specificity of this prediction to suicidal ideation has not been tested. This study examined whether these constructs were consistently associated with different characteristics of suicidal ideation, and whether they were associated with mental health problems more broadly, in an online sample of 1,352 Australian adults. Findings indicated that the interaction between perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness was associated only with suicidal ideation and consistent across multiple characteristics of ideation. The study broadly supported the specificity of the IPTS., (© 2014 The American Association of Suicidology.)

While suicide prevention efforts are increasingly being delivered using technology, no scales have been developed specifically for web-based use. The Suicidal Ideation Attributes Scale (SIDAS) was developed and validated as a brief, web-based measure for severity of suicidal ideation, using an online survey of Australian adults (n = 1,352). The SIDAS demonstrated high internal consistency and good convergent validity. Frequency and controllability of thoughts were more strongly associated with suicide plans and attempts than other attributes assessed. Scores ≥ 21 indicated high risk of suicide behavior. The SIDAS appears to be a valid web-based measure for severity of suicidal ideation., (© 2014 The American Association of Suicidology.)

Public knowledge and attitudes toward suicide may influence help-seeking for suicidality. This study aimed to identify correlates of suicide attitudes and knowledge. Australian adults were invited to complete an online survey, with 1,286 responders. Less exposure to suicide, older age, male gender, less education, and culturally diverse backgrounds were associated with poorer knowledge; while younger age, male gender, and culturally diverse backgrounds were associated with more stigmatizing attitudes toward people who die by suicide. The results suggest suicide literacy and stigma reduction programs would benefit community members, particularly males and individuals from culturally diverse backgrounds., (© 2013 The American Association of Suicidology.)