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Habits of Nervous Tension and Suicide
Author(s) -
Lauslahti Graves Pirkko,
Bedell Thomas Caroline
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1943-278x.1991.tb00458.x
Subject(s) - irritability , suicide prevention , medicine , poison control , injury prevention , occupational safety and health , confidence interval , human factors and ergonomics , prospective cohort study , clinical psychology , psychiatry , psychology , medical emergency , pathology , anxiety
In a prospective study of 1,046 male medical students, those who later committed suicide showed a heightened sensitivity in stressful situations as assessed by the Habits of Nervous Tension Questionnaire (HNT). Survival analyses specified 2 of the 25 HNT items as the strongest suicide predictors: Irritability (relative risk 5.5; 95% confidence interval 1.76–17.17) and Urinary Frequency (3.3; 1.07–10.32). No other risk factors for suicide emerged from family background measures or individual medical school measures. It appears that types of sensitivity reflect psychological characteristics that are long‐term precursors of suicide.