Self/other Perception Mediates Between Personality and Suicidal Ideation in Young Adults

Abstract

Background and Objectives:Individual differences in vulnerability to suici-dal ideation have been recently addressed to internal working models of attachment. Howev-er, to date, research has mainly focused on adolescents. Few studies have investigated the roleof adult attachment and personality dimensions in suicidal ideation, either examined from amediational perspective. In this study, we aimed at testing a theoretical model in whichSelf/other perception mediates between personality and suicidal ideation in young adults.Methods: Dimensions of Attachment (self/other perception), Personality (the Big Fivefactor model), and Suicidal Ideation (hopelessness and depression) were assessed in acommunity sample of 319 young adults from Northern Italy. Structural Equation Model-ing and mediation analysis were conducted. Controlling for demographic variables (i.e.,gender, age, education, and job), we tested three structural models.Results: The final model confirmed our hypothesis that self/other perception mediatesbetween personality (high neuroticism and low extraversion) and suicidal ideation, pro-viding excellent fit to data.Conclusions: In line with the conceptual framework of the Attachment Theory, find-ings suggest that failure to resolve attachment-related distress is related to the emergenceof negative self/other models in adults. Such internal models are likely to attenuate the as-sociation between neuroticism and extraversion with depressive symptoms, hopelessnessand suicidal ideation.