Citation

Joiner TE. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2002; 32(1): 33-41.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306-1270, USA. joiner@psy.fsu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11931009

Abstract

Some empirical work on genetic and prenatal factors in suicidality is presented. These factors may represent enduring predispositions that comprise risk for initial as well as later suicidal behavior. The existence of enduring predispositions does not preclude the possibility, however, that initial suicidal behavior sets processes into motion that spur later suicidal behavior. Based on past conceptual and empirical work, I suggest two psychological processes--cognitive sensitization and opponent processes--that may partly explain the link between past and future suicidal behavior.