Exploring the scope and structure of suicide capability

Abstract

ObjectiveRecent theories of suicide suggest that a construct called “capability for suicide” facilitates the progression from suicidal thoughts to attempts. Various measures of capability have been developed to assess different parts of the construct, but studies report inconsistent findings regarding reliability, validity, and structure. The present study pooled items from multiple measures to identify distinct, reliable, and valid domains of suicide capability.MethodWe administered items from several suicide capability measures to an online sample of US adults (n = 387), and utilized exploratory factor analysis to identify distinct domains of capability. We then examined the internal consistencies of and intercorrelations among these domains, as well as their associations with suicide attempts.ResultsFindings identified three domains of suicide capability: fearlessness about death, practical capability, and pain tolerance. These domains were internally consistent (αs = 0.80–0.92), and relatively independent from one another (intercorrelations = 0.15–0.35). Finally, each of these domains was moderately elevated among attempters compared to ideators (although only fearlessness about death and practical capability offered unique information about attempter status).ConclusionsFindings suggest that fearlessness about death, practical capability, and pain tolerance can be measured reliably, and may be relevant for understanding which ideators make attempts.

Clarifying the association of eating disorder features to suicide ideation and attempts

“…As previously described in Shahnaz et al (2020), participants reported a mean age of 35.6 years (SD = 10.59). The majority of participants were female (62.3%), White (73.1%), and heterosexual (82.9%).…”

“…Regarding suicide history, 203 (52.5%) reported no lifetime history of suicidal thoughts or behaviors (nonsuicidal participants), 114 (29.5%) reported a lifetime history of suicide ideation but no history of suicide attempts (ideators), and 70 (18.1%) reported a lifetime history of suicide attempts (attempters). Data regarding descriptive information about suicide attempts, including types of suicide attempts endorsed, can be found in Table 1 in Shahnaz et al (2020). During the peer review process, a reviewer noted that both gender and sexual orientation are often associated with ED features and suicide ideation and attempts.…”

“…Procedures for this study are described in Shahnaz et al (2020). Participants were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk).…”

Perceptions towards charcoal-burning suicide and the surge of this lethal method in Taiwan

“…Together with the perceived 'painlessness', the identified sociocultural perceptions towards charcoal-burning suicide in this study can be better understood in the construct of 'capability for suicide'-fearlessness about death, practical capability, and pain tolerance-which researchers propose to facilitate the progression from suicidal ideations to attempts [19]. Up to 77.6% of respondents who contemplated charcoal-burning suicide perceived that this method leaves behind an intact body after death, whereas only 49.8% of those not contemplating charcoal-burning suicide had this perception.…”

Work and suicide: An interdisciplinary systematic literature review

“…We further stress that researchers must be careful regarding their measurement of key constructs associated with suicide (Shahnaz et al, 2020). Large-scale mortality databases are often believed to include objective indicators of suicide, but these databases are typically created from death certificates.…”