Abstract
Objective: The objective of this study was to identify baseline demographic and clinical factors associated with higher scores on the Reasons for Living Inventory for Adolescents (RFL-A) at baseline and over follow-up. Method: Using data from a pilot clinical trial of a brief intervention for suicidal youth transitioning from inpatient to outpatient, we identified univariate associations of baseline characteristics with RFL-A and used regression to identify the most parsimonious subset of these variables. Finally, we examined to what extent changes in these characteristics over time were related to changes in RFL-A. Results: Univariate analyses found that better external functional emotion regulation and social support were associated with higher RFL-A scores; more self-reported depression, internal dysfunctional emotion regulation, sleep disturbance, anxiety, and distress tolerance were associated with lower RFL-A scores. Multiple linear regression identified internal dysfunctional emotion regulation and external functional emotion regulation as the most parsimonious set of characteristics associated with RFL-A. Improvement in internal emotion regulation, sleep, and depression were related to improvements in RFL-A over time. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that emotion regulation—specifically maladaptive internal strategies and use of external resources—is strongly associated with RFL-A. Improvements in internal emotion regulation (r = 0.57), sleep (r = −0.45), and depression (r = −0.34) were related to increases in RFL-A.HIGHLIGHTS In the literature, greater reasons for living are associated with lower risk for future suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. The most salient correlate of concurrent and future lower RFL-A was dysfunctional internal emotion regulation. Improved sleep and decreases in depression were correlated with increases in RFL-A.
Original language | English (US) |
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Journal | Archives of Suicide Research |
DOIs | |
State | Accepted/In press - 2023 |
Keywords
- Adolescents
- reasons for living
- suicide
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychiatry and Mental health