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Interoceptive deficits differentiate suicide groups and associate with self‐injurious thoughts and behaviors in a military sample
Author(s) -
Smith April R.,
Dodd Dorian R.,
Ortiz Shelby,
Forrest Lauren N.,
Witte Tracy K.
Publication year - 2020
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/sltb.12603
Subject(s) - psychology , psychopathology , poison control , clinical psychology , confirmatory factor analysis , suicide prevention , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , structural equation modeling , psychiatry , occupational safety and health , self destructive behavior , medicine , medical emergency , statistics , mathematics , pathology
Objective Previous research shows that interoceptive deficits are associated with harmful behaviors such as nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI), eating disorder pathology, and suicide attempts. The present study replicates and extends this area of research by examining the association between interoceptive deficits and suicidality in a military sample. Method In Study 1, respondents to an online survey ( N = 134) answered self‐report questionnaires related to interoceptive deficits. Study 2 consisted of a secondary data analysis of 3,764 military service members who had previously completed questionnaires on interoceptive indicators, NSSI, suicide thoughts and attempts, and other psychopathology. Results Study 1 demonstrated that our interoceptive deficits latent variable had adequate psychometric properties. In Study 2, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed that scores on the interoceptive deficits latent variable were highest among suicide attempters, lowest among those with no suicide history, and intermediary among participants who had thought about but not attempted suicide. The interoceptive deficits latent variable was more strongly related to NSSI and suicidality than were posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, hopelessness, gender, and age. Conclusions These results confirm—and extend to a military sample—previous research showing that interoceptive deficits can provide important information about suicide risk.