Implicit Cognitions as a Behavioral Marker of Suicide Attempts in Adolescents
Abstract
Using self-harm Implicit Association Tests (IATs), we sought to test whether (1) suicidal adolescents show implicit identification with self-harm and whether (2) IATs are reliable and sensitive to psychiatric change and (3) predict future suicide attempts. We administered 6 self-harm IATs to 71 adolescents from a psychiatric inpatient unit and assessed suicidal behaviors at admission, discharge and 3 months after discharge. Results were in the expected direction for each IAT but not statistically significant. After aggregating trials across IATs, suicide attempters showed increased implicit identification with self-harm, compared with non-suicidal controls. IATs showed good reliability and sensitivity to psychiatric change but did not prospectively predict suicide attempts. Adolescent suicide attempters may have stronger implicit associations with self-harm than non-suicidal controls.
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The death/suicide IAT has predicted suicidal behavior in some prospective studies but not in others.
“The IAT predicts suicidal behavior in some prospective studies (269, 270), but not others (271).”
From A brain-centric model of suicidal behavior (2020) · cites this paper as [270]
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- Authors
- Millner, A. J., Augenstein, T. M., Visser, K. H., Gallagher, K., Vergara, G. A., D’Angelo, E. J., & Nock, M. K.
- Corresponding author
- Millner, Alexander J.
- Venue
- Archives of Suicide Research
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2018-03-14
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 47-63
- ISSN
- 1381-1118 (ISSN-L)
- 1543-6136
- OpenAlex
- W2792585435
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 3.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Archives of Suicide Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Military Suicide Research Consortium
- Tommy Fuss Fund
- National Institute of Mental Health
- MacArthur Foundation
- U.S. Department of Defense
- US Army
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- suicide attempts, adolescents, implicit associations, self-harm, Implicit Association Test, behavioral markers, suicide risk prediction, psychiatric inpatients
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Behavioral Symptoms, Female, Humans, Male, Predictive Value of Tests, Psychological Techniques, Suicide, Attempted, Reproducibility of Results, Self-Injurious Behavior, Risk Assessment, Suicidal Ideation
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