The Relationship Between Emotion Malleability Beliefs and Suicidal Ideation or Behaviors

Research has identified risk factors for suicide, but resilience factors remain unexplored. Our study examined whether stronger emotion malleability beliefs may protect against suicidal ideation (SI) and/or behaviors. We also examined whether emotion malleability beliefs moderates the relation between SI and suicidal behaviors.

Participants (n = 514 partial hospital patients) completed the Theories of Emotion Scale that assessed emotion malleability beliefs and Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale interview to measure SI severity and presence of suicidal behaviors.

Consistent with hypotheses, stronger emotion malleability beliefs was associated with lower levels of past-month SI (β =  – .12, p = .009) and lower odds of past-month suicidal behaviors (Exp[B] = 1.06, p = .009). However, these effects were no longer significant when controlling for depressive symptoms (β =  – .05, p = .29; Exp[B] = 0.85, p = .11). Unexpectedly, past-month SI was a stronger predictor of past-month suicidal behavior at stronger emotion malleability beliefs (b = .87, p < .001) relative to more moderate (b = .65, p < .001) or weaker beliefs (b = .51, p < .001).

Emotion malleability beliefs does not predict suicidality beyond depressive symptoms, but paradoxically may increase risk of suicidal thoughts progressing into suicidal behaviors.