Personality Traits And Suicide Behavior Of Selected .
Suicidology Online 2017; 8:4ISSN 2078-5488Original ResearchPersonality Traits and Suicide Behavior of Selected FilipinoAdolescentsMarc Eric S. Reyes¹, , Roger D. Davis², Carlo Angelo B. Arkoncel¹, Christine Bernadette C.Balingit¹, Mianda Margarette U. Chin¹, Noelle Marie L. Gatdula¹¹ University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines² Ateneo de Manila University, PhilippinesSubmitted to SOL: May 25th, 2016; accepted: January 04th, 2017; published: February 09th, 2017Abstract: Suicide and suicide behavior are major health concerns in our society today. Suicide has always beena sensitive topic, being considered taboo in many cultures and religions. Studies have shown that suicide andsuicide behavior are linked to personality traits. The study aims to observe the relationship of the Five FactorModel personality traits with suicide behavior among Filipino adolescents, in order to determine the degree towhich personality may correlate with suicide behavior. Participants were gathered from various universities inMetro Manila with ages ranging from 17-21. Results revealed that Neuroticism, Antagonism, Introversion, andDisinhibition (Low Conscientiousness) are correlated with suicide behavior. Moreover, forward stepwiseregression indicated that Neuroticism, Antagonism, and Introversion were predictors of suicide behavior, withNeuroticism being the strongest predictor among the 5 domains. Results likewise showed that Depressivity(N3), which is a sub-factor of Neuroticism, is the strongest predictor of suicide behavior among the Five FactorModel facets.Keywords: Suicide, suicide behavior, personality traits, adolescentsCopyrights belong to the Author(s). Suicidology Online (SOL) is a peer-reviewed open-access journal publishing under the Creative Commons Licence 3.0.*females between 1984 and 2005. Suicide rates wentfrom 0.23 to 3.59 per 100,000 males, and from 0.12to 1.09 per 100,000 females between 1984 and 2005.Suicide and suicide behavior are issues thatthe Philippine government and various organizationsare seeking to address, so much so that numerousprevention programs have been established. SenatorMiriam Defensor-Santiago introduced Senate Bill No.1946, the “Student Suicide Prevention Act of 2005”,which mandates that school organizations such as theCommission on Higher Education (CHED) and theTechnical Education and Skills Development Authority(TESDA) provide proper programs to reduce suicideattempts and completed suicides. Foundations werealso created to raise awareness within the FilipinoIntroductionAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO),over 800,000 people die by suicide every year, withone person dying every 40 seconds. It is the secondleading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds;most of whom are adolescents (Suicide, 2015).Reports of suicide have been increasing in thePhilippines and have become an alarming issue in thecountry. In a study conducted by Redaniel, LebananDalida, & Gunnel (2011), the incidence of suicide hadincreased in the Philippines for both males and Marc Eric S. Reyes, PhD, Department of Psychology, Universityof Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippinesmarcericsreyes.mesr@gmail.com*1
Suicidology Online 2017; 8:4ISSN 2078-5488society. Created by Jean Goulbourn, the NatashaGoulbourn Foundation is a non-profit organizationthat promotes awareness and understanding ofdepression, in the hopes of preventing suicide.There are different views on suicide and howpeople should understand it. In the past, suicide hasmostly been viewed as a topic of taboo (Pompili,2010). Viewed as a sin or crime, it was too shamefulto discuss openly in most cultures and religions. Sincethe rise of science and medicine, however, societyhas become more inclined to view suicide as a resultof mental illness. In the 19th century, a milestone wasachieved for understanding suicide from abiopsychological point of view: There are forces orcauses inside the person that cannot be consciouslyknown or considered, but nevertheless influencesuicide risk (Pompili, 2010).One must keep in mind that suicide andsuicide behavior are not one and the same. Whilesuicide is defined as the act of intentionally takingone’s own life, suicide behaviors also include nonfatalthoughts and behaviors (Nock et al., 2008). Accordingto Nock et al. (2008), suicide behavior can beclassified into three categories: suicide ideation,suicide plan, and suicide attempt. Suicide ideationrefers to ideas, thoughts, and contemplation inregard to suicide; suicide plan refers to formulationsof how to take one’s life; lastly, suicide attempt isdefined as engaging with to self-injurious behavioraccompanied by intent to actually die (Nock et al.,2008).The categories under suicide behavior shouldbe seen in a continuum of severity, leading fromideation to the formulation of a plan, then to asuicide attempt. Consistent with this hierarchicalmodel, individuals who experience persistent andsevere suicide ideation are at a higher risk ofattempting suicide (Scanlan & Purcell, 2009). Whilenot all suicide ideation results in a suicide attempt(Reynolds, 1991), ideation is nevertheless stronglyassociated with depression, and with depressivefeelings and cognitions. As such, sadness, loss, grief,guilt, fatigue, pessimism, poor concentration,anhedonia, and nihilism may be viewed as animmediate cause of suicide attempts, some of whichwill become completed suicides (Scanlan & Purcell,2009).As defined by Pompili (2010), suicidology isthe study of suicide and suicide prevention. Insuicidology, many interacting factors are associatedwith suicide but there is no single factor is causallysufficient, thus making suicide a complex concept(Pompili, 2010). Epidemiologists study suicidethrough associated risk factors, which are used topredict the likelihood of suicide behavior. Pastresearch has identified demographic, psychiatric,psychological, biological, and stressful life events asthe strongest major risk factors in predicting suicidebehavior (Nock et al., 2008). Other risk factorsassociated with suicide behaviors include familydisturbances, mental health problems, and previoussuicide attempts (Scanlan & Purcell, 2009). Such riskfactors may be considered “distal causes,” in thatthey influence the development of the specificemotions and cognitions that precipitate suicidebehavior, but cannot be considered the direct causeof a suicide attempt. Hopelessness and helplessness,both associated with depression, are considered tobe among the strong predictors of suicide behavior(Hewitt, Caelian, Chen, Flett, 2014). These may beconsidered “proximal causes,” in that they saturatethe conscious awareness of the desperate person,thereby preceding and producing suicide behaviorand suicide attempts. Factors that help decrease aperson’s probability of attempting suicide are calledprotective factors. Research studies have foundreligiosity to be one of the strongest among them.Moral objections and social support also seem toprotect people against suicide attempts (Nock et al.,2008).Interest between the relationship ofpersonality traits and suicide behavior has beenincreasing for the past few years (Brezo, Paris, &Turcki, 2005). According to Brezo, Paris, & Turecki(2005), personality traits are linked to suicidebehavior because traits contribute to a diathesis forsuicide behavior. In the diathesis model, pathologicalbehavior is seen as the product of internalcharacteristics and external events. Internalcharacteristics constitute a vulnerability that can, inconjunction with precipitating external events, createa window of opportunity for the emergence ofpathological behavior. Personality traits reflect apropensity or disposition toward those cognitions,emotions, and behaviors which are consistent withthe trait. Since situations are also important, traits donot determine behavior, but instead influence itsbaseline probability. The connection betweenpersonality traits and any actual, concrete behavior istherefore indirect and probabilistic. Personality traitsare determined by genes, environment, and theinteraction between genes and environment (Brezo,Paris, & Turecki, 2005).One of the most used models of personalitytraits in relation to suicide behavior is McCrae andCosta’s Five Factor Model of Personality (FFM; 1992).The FFM is a hierarchical model consisting of fivebroad dimensions, each of which is composed of sixnarrower trait facets. Among the FFM factors, onepole is considered to be adaptive and the othermaladaptive. Emotional Stability, Extraversion (E),Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), andOpenness to Experience (OTE) are the adaptive poles.Neuroticism(N),Introversion,Antagonism,2
Suicidology Online 2017; 8:4ISSN 2078-5488Disinhibition, and Rigidity are the maladaptive poles.As such, we would expect that positive associationswith suicide behavior would be found for themaladaptive poles. These can also be considerednegative associations with the positive pole,depending on how the researcher wishes to phrasethe findings. The maladaptive poles may thus beconsidered risk factors, while the positive poles canbe considered protective factors. Since the FFM isbelieved to be comprehensive, and since personalitytraits are, by definition, predispositions that influencethe baseline probability of behavior, the FFM shouldrelate broadly to many forms of psychopathology.A literature search revealed a total of ninestudies using either the FFM or its lexical antecedent,the Big Five Model. Interest in the relationshipbetween FFM and suicide behavior can be tracedback at least to Velting (1999), who studied therelationship between the FFM and suicidal ideation ina convenience sample of 185 undergraduates. Asshown in Table 1, Neuroticism is by far the mostcommon factor found to be related to suicidebehavior. Because Neuroticism is defined as apropensity to experience negative emotions, itsassociation with suicide behavior would appear to beuniversal: There is no suicide without the experienceof pain. As such, Neuroticism creates an enduringvulnerability to painful emotional states, andtherefore, to suicidal ideation and behavior.Moreover, in the NEO-PI-R, which operationalizes theFFM, depressivity is considered a facet trait. Theassociation between depressive states and suicidebehavioriswellknown.Table 1 Relationships Between FFM or Big Five Factors and Suicide Behavior Identified in the LiteratureBlüml et al. (2013),n 2555Mousavi et al. (2015),n 200Kerby (2003),n 299Soltaninejad et al. (2013), n 1659DeShong et al. (2014),n 348Velting (1999),n 185Heisel et al. (2005),n 134Topić et al. (2012),n 179Chioqueta & Stiles (2004), n 219A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H.I.NAECOTE (A)- (A)- (A)- (A)- (A) (B)- (B)- (B)- (B)- (B) (C)- (C)- (C)- (C) (D) (E)- (D)- (D)- (E) (F)- (F) (G) (H) (G)- (H) (I)Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-RevisedSuicide attemptersSuicide Probability ScaleBeck Scale for Suicidal IdeationHopelessness Depression Symptom Questionnaire-Suicidality SubscaleAdult Suicidal Ideation QuestionnaireScale for Suicide IdeationAutodestructiveness Scale, Suicidal Depression subscaleHopkins Symptom Check ListInterestingly, only two of the nine studiesfound an association between suicide behavior andall five factors. After Neuroticism, associationsbetween other factors and suicide behavior arewell documented, but by no means universal. LowAgreeableness (high Antagonism) and lowExtraversion (high Introversion) were welldocumented, but by no means universal, bothbeing found in five studies. Conscientiousness wasnegatively related to suicide behavior in fourstudies, whereas Openness was negatively relatedin two studies and positively related in one study.With this single study on Openness being the onlyexception, the expected pattern of relationshipsuniversally supports the premise of the FFM,whereby negative factor poles relate topsychopathology and that positive factor poles areprotective against psychopathology. Because thesample sizes were adequate to generatesubstantial statistical power, we can conclude thatthe association between certain factors and suicideideation is likely to be sample specific, or could bedue to measure of suicide behavior used in thatparticular study. Thus far, no two studies haveused the same measure of suicide ideation.Suicide and suicide behavior inadolescents have become great concerns inFilipino society (Reynolds & Mazza, 1999).According to Shain (2007), suicide is the thirdleading cause of death among adolescents from3
Suicidology Online 2017; 8:4ISSN 2078-5488ages 15-19. Since suicidal behavior is becomingmuch more frequent in the Philippines, we decidedto explore the role of personality traits aspredisposing and protecting against suicidalbehavior. Our goal is to replicate existing studiesthat have examined the relationship betweenbroad personality factors and suicide behavior, andthen to explore the predictive power of morespecific personality traits.Given the widespread use of the FFM, it isfurther hoped that its factors and facet traits canbe of assistance to guidance counselors and otherprofessionals who routinely conduct personalityassessment in school- and college-based settings.Since community-based programs have notgenerally been supported in influencing suiciderates (Brent & Brown, 2015), school- and collegebased programs become the logical point ofidentification and intervention. In the Saving andEmpowering Young Lives in Europe study(Wasserman, Hoven, Wasserman, et. al., 2015), theauthors examined three such programs, namelyQuestion, Persuade, and Refer (QPR), the YouthAware of Mental Health Programme (YAM), andProfScreen, across 10 European countries, 168schools, and over 11,000 youth. Only YAM waseffective at decreasing suicide attempts andsuicidal ideation. Identification of personalityvariables that mediate suicidal ideation and suicideattempts is an important complement to theseefforts, and could influence their effectiveness.(0.99%), Export Management (0.50%), andMultimedia Arts (0.50%)ProcedureWith the use of non-probability conveniencesampling the researchers sent letters to variousuniversities and colleges within Metro Manila. AnIRB /HSRB approval was not required prior toconducting the survey, which consisted of onlyquestionnaires. As such, once the requests hadbeen approved by the institutions, an informedconsent was obtained from each of theparticipants. The battery of tests that included theSuicide Probability Scale (SPS) and NEO PersonalityInventory Revised (NEO PI-R) was thenadministered to participants in their respectiveclassrooms. The testing time for the pencil & paperbased administration was completed within 45minutes to an hour. Respondents were informedthat they would be receiving extra credits forvoluntarily participating in the research study.MeasuresNeuroticism Extraversion Openness PersonalityInventory Revised. The Neuroticism ExtraversionOpenness Personality Inventory Revised (NEO PI-R)is a 240-item self-administered instrumentdeveloped by Paul Costa Jr. and Robert McCrae(Costa & McCrae, 1992) which gives a concisemeasure of five major domains of personality,namely: Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E),Openness to experience (O), Agreeableness (A),and Conscientiousness (C). Each domain iscomprised of 6 facet scales which constitutepersonality traits. Together, the 5 domains and the30 facet scales give a comprehensive assessmentof personality. Internal consistency coefficientsrange from .86 to .93 for factor scores and .56 to.87 for facet scores (Johnsson, 2009). In this study,the Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of thefactors ranged from .83 to .91, specifically .89 forNeuroticism, .88 for Extraversion, .83 for Opennessto Experience, .84 for Agreeableness, and .91 forConscientiousness. Moreover, internal consistencycoefficients for the facet scores range from .39 to.79.Suicide Probability Scale. The Suicide ProbabilityScale (SPS) is a 36-item self-report measure thatassesses suicide risk in adults and adolescents. SPSitems use a four-point Likert-type scale rangingfrom “none or a little of the time” to “most or all ofthe time.” The SPS includes four subscales, namelyHopelessness (e.g., “I think I have too muchresponsibility”), Suicide Ideation (e.g., “I think ofthings too bad to share with others”), Evaluation(e.g. “I feel many people care for me deeply”), andHostility (“When I get mad, I throw things”).Individuals are asked to rate the frequency of theirMethodsResearch DesignThe study used a correlational design to determinewhich domains of the Five Factor Model (FFM)predict suicide behavior in a sample of Filipinoadolescents. The FFM was the independentvariable and suicide behavior was the dependentvariable. The researchers hypothesized that eachof the five traits would significantly correlate withsuicide behavior, with Neuroticism being the mostsignificant predictor of suicide probability.ParticipantsThe participants were 604 Filipino adolescentsfrom various universities and colleges in the MetroManila area. The sample was 73% female (n 439)and 27% male (n 161). Ages ranged from 17-21(M 18.53, SD 1.05). The students belonged tovarious disciplines, including Psychology (75.33%),Early Childhood Education (4.30%), Accountancy(3.97%), Information Technology (2.98%), Hoteland Restaurant Institution Management (3.31%),Nutrition (2.48%), Tourism (1.66%), Interior Design(1.66%), Business Administration (1.16%), Fine Artsand Architecture (1.16%), Communication Arts4
Suicidology Online 2017; 8:4ISSN 2078-5488subjective experiences and past behavior. Thesubscales evolved from various theories proposedto explain and predict suicide. The internalconsistency of the subscales ranges from 0.62 to0.98. Validity of the instrument is considered to begood (Eltz et al., 2006). Cronbach’s alpha reliabilityin the present study for the total SPS score was.89.are captured by depressivity, but precededepressivity as internal characteristics predisposingthe individual toward suicide behavior.ResultsThe sample of Filipino adolescents consisted of73% female (n 439) and 27% male (n 161) withages ranging from 17-21 (M 18.53, SD 1.05).The students belonged to various disciplines,including Psychology (75.33%), Early mation Technology (2.98%), Hotel andRestaurant Institution Management (3.31%),Nutrition (2.48%), Tourism (1.66%), Interior Design(1.66%), Business Administration (1.16%), Fine Artsand Architecture (1.16%), Communication Arts(0.99%), Export Management (0.50%), andMultimedia Arts (0.50%)As shown in Table 2, Neuroticism wasmostly strongly correlated with SPS total score at.41. According to Cohen (1992), Pearsoncorrelations greater than .30 are considered to ss, and Conscientiousness were alsonegatively correlated with SPS total score at -.18, .19, -.16, respectively. These are considered to besmall effects in Cohen’s framework. As such, highNeuroticism should be considered a moderate riskfactor for suicidal behavior, while Extraversion,Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness can beconsidered to be weak protective factors.Data AnalysisData analysis proceeded from more general tomore specific. First, factor scores on the NEO-PI-Rwere correlated with total scores on the SuicideProbability Test (SPS), in order to test forsignificant relationships at the most abstract orbroadband level supported by these instruments.Second, the NEO-PI-R factor scores were used in aforward stepwise multiple regression in order topredict total SPS scores. Forward regression wasused because it generally results in a parsimoniousmodel. Third, facets from each factor of the FFMwere entered into a forward stepwise regression inorder to predict SPS total score. As expected,Depressivity emerged as the most significantpredictor, thereby validating mood as the mostimportant proximal variable predicting suicidebehavior (as a personality trait, depressivitysuggests a dis
F. Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire G. Scale for Suicide Ideation H. Autodestructiveness Scale, Suicidal Depression subscale I. Hopkins Symptom Check List Interestingly, only two of the nine studies found an association between suicide behav
Personality traits The module of Big-Five personality traits is built on a model which described the nature of individual differences as the human in five directions (McCrae& John, 1992). These five directions of Personality traits are gathered, summarize
personality traits and motivation in a learning process. In this research, ’Big Five’ was used as a personality model. The results showed that there is correlation between personality traits and motivation, but not all personality traits affect motivation in the same way and with the
to other personality disorders such as antisocial personality disorder. Ogloff (2005) distinguishes psychopathy from antisocial personality disorder due to the emphasis on affective and personality rather than mostly behavioral elements of antisocial personality disorder. Besides antisocial personality disorder, there are other DSM-IV personality
The Big Five personality traits are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These five factors are assumed to represent the basic structure behind all personality traits. They were defined and described by several different researchers during multiple periods of research. The Five Traits The traits are:
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Suicide, Samaritans USA , Suicide Awareness Voices of Education , and Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program. The strategy also reflects the input of family members who have lost loved ones to suicide, those who have attempted suicide, national organizations dedicated
Suicide, Samaritans USA , Suicide Awareness Voices of Education , and Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program. The strategy also reflects the input of family members who have lost loved ones to suicide, those who have attempted suicide, national organizations dedicated to
zero suicide nationwide. In conjunction with our goal to prevent Veteran suicide, VA supports the national goal of reducing suicide in the U.S. by 20 percent by the year 2025. In this National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide, the goals and objectives of the 2012 National Strategy have been adapted to address suicide prevention among .
