Citation

Bhar S, Ghahramanlou-Holloway M, Brown G, Beck AT. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2008; 38(5): 511-516.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1521/suli.2008.38.5.511

PMID

19014303

Abstract

Depression, hopelessness, and low self-esteem are implicated as vulnerability factors for suicide ideation. The association of self-esteem with suicide ideation after controlling for depressed mood and hopelessness was examined. Adult psychiatric outpatients (N = 338) completed measures of self-esteem, suicide ideation, hopelessness, and depression. Self-esteem was operationalized as beliefs about oneself (self-based self-esteem) and beliefs about how other people regard oneself (other-based self-esteem). Each dimension of self-esteem was negatively associated with suicide ideation after controlling for depression and hopelessness. Of the two dimensions of self-esteem, other-based self-esteem was the more robust predictor of suicide ideation. These findings suggest that even in the context of depression and hopelessness, low self-esteem may add to the risk for suicide ideation.

Language: en