Suicidal behaviour in the social environment: Does exposure moderate the relationship between an individual's own suicidal ideation and behaviour?

Introduction Suicidal behaviour still cannot be sufficiently predicted. Exposure to suicidal behaviour in the personal social environment is assumed to moderate the individual's transition from suicidal ideation to suicidal behaviour within the integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behaviour (IMV model). This study aimed to investigate this moderating effect in a German high-risk sample. Methods We interviewed 308 psychiatric inpatients (53% female) aged 18 to 81 years (M = 36.9, SD = 14.30) admitted after attempted suicide (53%) or due to an acute suicidal crisis (47%) regarding exposure events in their social environment. Four types of exposure events were analysed using moderation analyses: familial suicides/suicide attempts and non-familial suicides/suicide attempts. Additionally, the numbers of reported exposure events were compared between patients with and without a recent suicide attempt as well as between patients with lifetime suicide attempts and lifetime suicidal ideation. Results Neither moderating effects of exposure events on the relationship between lifetime suicidal ideation and recent suicidal behaviour nor group differences between suicidal ideators and suicide attempters regarding the exposure events were found. Conclusions Exposure events might have differential and possibly protective effects on suicidal behaviour-depending on type and quality (intensity, personal relevance and recency) of event-and on the outcome (suicide vs. suicide attempt).