Citation

Dougherty DM, Mathias CW, Marsh DM, Papageorgiou TD, Swann AC, Moeller FG. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2004; 34(4): 374-385.

Affiliation

The Neuro-behavioral Research Laboratory and Clinic, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1521/suli.34.4.374.53738

PMID

15585459

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between laboratory behavioral measured impulsivity (using the Immediate and Delayed Memory Tasks) and suicidal attempt histories. Three groups of adults were recruited, those with either: no previous suicide attempts (Control, n = 20), only a single suicide attempt (Single, n = 20), or multiple suicidal attempts (Multiple, n = 10). As hypothesized, impulsive responses increased with the number of suicide attempts (Control < Single < Multiple). This study helps to demonstrate how laboratory behavioral measures of impulsivity can be used to discriminate groups based on suicidal histories among samples not currently exhibiting significant suicidal behaviors.