Interpersonal correlates of the guilt inventory

The interpersonal correlates of the Guilt Inventory (Kugler & Jones, 1992), which yields scores for state guilt, trait guilt, and moral standards, were assessed. Data collection addressed three issues including the relationships among Guilt Inventory scores and measures of: (a) interpersonal emotions and traits (e.g., shyness, self-consciousness, anger, etc.); (b) the social support network; and (c) ratings of trait guilt, moral standards, and relevant adjectives by friends and family members. Results indicated that trait and state guilt scores were significantly related to various interpersonal measures, most particularly, depression, anxiety, shyness, and loneliness, but only modestly related to satisfaction with social support. Moral standards were generally unrelated to these variables. Others tended to rate participants higher on trait guilt negatively (e.g., higher on contemptuous, angry, guilty, etc.), and participants higher on moral standards in socially acceptable terms (e.g., higher on prompt, self-reliant, moral, and religious). Results are interpreted in view of the frequently cited distinction between social and nonsocial emotions.     

Dimensionality of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Its Relationships With the Three-and the Five-Factor Personality Models

The interpersonal correlates of the Guilt Inventory (Kugler &; Jones, 1992), which yields scores for state guilt, trait guilt, and moral standards, were assessed. Data collection addressed three issues including the relationships among Guilt Inventory scores and measures of: (a) interpersonal emotions and traits (e.g., shyness, self-consciousness, anger, etc.); (b) the social support network; and (c) ratings of trait guilt, moral standards, and relevant adjectives by friends and family members. Results indicated that trait and state guilt scores were significantly related to various interpersonal measures, most particularly, depression, anxiety, shyness, and loneliness, but only modestly related to satisfaction with social support. Moral standards were generally unrelated to these variables. Others tended to rate participants higher on trait guilt negatively (e.g., higher on contemptuous, angry, guilty, etc.), and participants higher on moral standards in socially acceptable terms (e.g., higher on prompt, self-reliant, moral, and religious). Results are interpreted in view of the frequently cited distinction between social and nonsocial emotions.     

Worldviews and individual vulnerability to suicide: The role of social axioms

Research investigating the role of generalized beliefs about the world or worldviews is relatively scarce in the suicide literature. Two studies, using Hong Kong Chinese samples, examined how worldviews, as assessed by the Social Axioms Survey (SAS), were linked with individual vulnerability to suicide. In Study 1, we investigated the relationships of social axioms with various suicide indicators in cognitive, emotional and interpersonal domains, viz., suicidal ideation, negative self‐esteem, psychache, burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Results from canonical correlation analysis showed that beliefs along the axiom dimensions of social cynicism, reward for application, and social complexity were linked to these suicide indicators. In Study 2, we tested the interplay of worldviews and personality traits in the prediction of suicidal thoughts. Hierarchical regression results demonstrated the predictive power of social axioms over and above that provided by the Big Five personality dimensions. Moreover, a significant interaction was observed between belief in reward for application and negative life events in predicting suicidal ideation, showing that reward for application buffered the effect of negative life events on suicidal ideation. Based on these results, we discussed the significance of worldviews as a consideration in suicide research and their implications for clinical assessment and intervention. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perfectionistic self-presentation, socially prescribed perfectionism, and suicide in youth: a test of the perfectionism social disconnection model

The role of interpersonal components of perfectionism in suicide outcomes among youth was assessed and the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model (PSDM) was tested by determining whether the links between socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) and perfectionistic self-presentation (PSP) and suicide outcomes are mediated by experiences of social disconnection, as indicated by social hopelessness and being bullied. PSP, trait perfectionism, suicide outcomes, and experiences of being bullied and social hopelessness were measured in 152 psychiatric outpatient children and adolescents. Correlational tests confirmed that PSP and SPP were associated with suicide outcomes and these interpersonal perfectionism components were associated significantly with bullying and social hopelessness. Support was also obtained for the PSDM. The relationship between the PSP facets, particularly nondisplay of imperfections, and suicide outcomes were mediated by being bullied. Additionally, the relationship between all interpersonal components of perfectionism and suicide risk was mediated by social hopelessness. Theoretical and clinical implications of interpersonal components of perfectionism and social disconnection in suicide outcomes for youth are discussed.     

Thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness: construct validity and psychometric properties of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire

The present study examined the psychometric properties and construct validity of scores derived from the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ) using latent variable modeling with 5 independent samples varying in age and level of psychopathology. The INQ was derived from the interpersonal theory of suicide and was developed to measure thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness-both proximal causes of desire for suicide. Results support that thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness are distinct but related constructs and that they can be reliably measured. Further, multiple-group analyses were consistent with invariance for young versus older adults and nonclinical versus clinical populations, thereby supporting the relevance of these constructs to diverse populations. Finally, both constructs demonstrated convergent associations with related interpersonal constructs-including loneliness and social support for belongingness and social worth and death ideation for burdensomeness--as well as prospective associations with suicidal ideation.     

Suicide: A Multidimensional Malaise

No one really knows why human beings commit suicide. The goal of this paper is to provide a psychological point of view on the topic, among the many other perspectives that are needed. It addresses the question by providing a theory of suicide, arguing that it is theory that allows us to sort out the booming buzzing mess of experience (Wm. James). Suicide is a multidimensional malaise. Metaphorically speaking, it is an intrapsychic drama on an interpersonal stage. As sound theory must be empirically observable, the theory is next applied to research of suicide notes, studying such factors as age, sex, and method of suicide, cross-culture and cross-time. Next, because all theory must have clinical applicability, a clinical case study of Goethe's Werther is provided. Overall, it is concluded that we need to continue to develop models to understand the suicidal mind.     

Construct validation of individuating and relating autonomy orientations in culturally Chinese adolescents

Adolescent individuating and relating autonomies were compared to the concepts of detachment and public conformity. Participants included 573 junior high and 673 senior high school students. Each type of autonomy had a distinctive function in intrapsychic or interpersonal domains and clearly differed from detachment and public conformity. In the competing model analysis, individuating autonomy was more associated than relating autonomy with adjustment variables in the personal domain, such as the global and personal aspects of self-esteem, the personal aspect of happiness, and internalizing problems (mainly anxiety and depression). Relating autonomy was more associated than individuating autonomy with adjustment variables in the interpersonal domain such as social skills and externalizing problems (mainly aggression and delinquent behaviour).     

Development and validation of the childhood narcissism scale

In this article, we describe the development and validation of a short (10 item) but comprehensive self-report measure of childhood narcissism. The Childhood Narcissism Scale (CNS) is a 1-dimensional measure of stable individual differences in childhood narcissism with strong internal consistency reliability (Studies 1-4). The CNS is virtually unrelated to conventional measures of self-esteem but is positively related to self-appraised superiority, social evaluative concern and self-esteem contingency, agentic interpersonal goals, and emotional extremity (Study 5). Furthermore, the CNS is negatively related to empathic concern and positively related to aggression following ego threat (Study 6). These results suggest that childhood narcissism has similar psychological and interpersonal correlates as adult narcissism. The CNS provides researchers a convenient tool for measuring narcissism in children and young adolescents with strong preliminary psychometric characteristics.     

Development and Validation of the Childhood Narcissism Scale

In this article, we describe the development and validation of a short (10 item) but comprehensive self-report measure of childhood narcissism. The Childhood Narcissism Scale (CNS) is a 1-dimensional measure of stable individual differences in childhood narcissism with strong internal consistency reliability (Studies 1–4). The CNS is virtually unrelated to conventional measures of self-esteem but is positively related to self-appraised superiority, social evaluative concern and self-esteem contingency, agentic interpersonal goals, and emotional extremity (Study 5). Furthermore, the CNS is negatively related to empathic concern and positively related to aggression following ego threat (Study 6). These results suggest that childhood narcissism has similar psychological and interpersonal correlates as adult narcissism. The CNS provides researchers a convenient tool for measuring narcissism in children and young adolescents with strong preliminary psychometric characteristics.     

Anxiety Sensitivity Differentially Predicts Factors of Interpersonal–Psychological Suicide Risk: A Consideration of Specificity

Recent studies have identified anxiety sensitivity (AS) as a risk factor for suicidality; however, limited work has been performed to understand this risk within the context of the interpersonal–psychological theory of suicide (IPTS; Joiner, 2005). The current study examined the relationship between overall AS, each AS subfactor (cognitive, social, and physical), and the three IPTS domains (perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and acquired capability). While each AS subfactor uniquely predicted one IPTS domain, greater overall AS only predicted greater acquired capability, suggesting that assessment of AS at the subfactor level may offer us more information about an individual's interpersonal suicide risk.     

The relationship between violence and youth suicide indicators among Asian American and Pacific Islander youth

The literature documents a relationship between interpersonal violence and suicide. One tool used to understand interpersonal violence is the Power Wheel, developed from clinical experience and originally used in domestic violence education. We examine the relationship between Teen Power and Control Wheel domains and suicidal indicators (seriously considered suicide, made a suicide plan, and attempted suicide) among Asian American and Pacific Islander high school students, in terms of both victimization and perpetration. Data from a 2007 survey of two multi-ethnic high schools on the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i were used. The survey assessed interpersonal youth violence and a multitude of risk and protective factors. It found that females were significantly more likely to seriously consider suicide and attempt suicide, compared to males. There were no statistically significant differences in seriously considering suicide, making a suicide plan, and attempting suicide by ethnic group, employment status, or hours worked per week. Using the Wheel, we found that all dimensions for victimization and perpetration were associated with the three suicidal indicators. However, the magnitude of this association was dramatically higher for victims than for perpetrators. School- and healthcare-based prevention strategies should ensure that both suicide and violence intervention components are addressed. Professionals who work with youth should be trained to feel comfortable, confident, and competent in discussing suicide and violence, and be willing and capable to assess and intervene.     

Beliefs in the Inheritance of Risk Factors for Suicide Scale: development, reliability, stability, and convergent and discriminant validity

Findings from adoption, family, geographical, immigrant, molecular genetic, surname, and twin studies suggest genetic risk factors have a role in suicidal behavior. However, related mental health literacy (knowledge and beliefs) even of future health-care professionals who will be concerned with suicide lag behind this research progress. As no scale for assessing such beliefs is available, the 22-item Beliefs in the Inheritance of Risk Factors for Suicide Scale was constructed, its contents rated by experts in a validation survey and administered to samples of 70 medical and 165 psychology students. Medical students held stronger beliefs in the genetics of suicide than psychology students. Internal scale consistency and test-retest reliability were assessed as adequate. Factor analysis of the 22 items yielded a dominant first factor. Scores were positively related to knowledge about suicide (convergent validity) but for the most part unrelated to lay theories of suicide, political orientation, religiosity, and social desirability (discriminant validity). This novel scale shows potential for assessing individuals' beliefs about the genetics of suicide. Applications may include basic research, educational contexts, and evaluation of professional training.     

The dynamics of owning and disowning: psychoanalytic and family perspectives.

The dynamics of owning and disowning one's inner life have both intrapsychic and transactional or interpersonal dimensions. Freud opened new vistas on our inner world using psycoanalysis as a tool. Although not unaware of the effects of family members upon each other, Freud's rejection of the seduction theory of neurosis in 1897 fatefully influenced the future course of psychoanalysis, placing the primary focus on intrapsychic relations. Until today, it has remained the task-perhaps the principal one--of psychoanalytic theorists to do justice to the interpersonal and family realm that Freud neglected, without sacrificing the enormous insights we owe to Freud. Three conditions for successful inner ownership are described: a capacity for self-object differentiation; tolerance of ambivalence; and a sense of physical integrity, of having a cohesive, nuclear ego. The pathology of inner ownership is related to a pathology of interpersonal ownership as transacted on the family level. One form of such relational pathology--parental overowning, as revealed primarily in families with schizophrenic members--is discussed, with a case example.     

Stereotypes of Suicide Causes for Three Age/Gender Cohorts

On the basis of open-ended questions and interviews using vignettes of fictitious male and female suicide committers of ages 15, 40, and 60, a list of reasons attributed to their suicides was obtained. From this list, a 45-item (5-point Likert scale) checklist was developed. This checklist was administered to a total of 232 respondents in a factorial design. The subjects were asked to respond to items concerning the fictitious suicide committer of their own age and gender, as well as to items for the other two age/gender cohorts. Thus, two groups of subjects answered the checklist. One group of respondents rated the checklist separately for the 3 age cohorts of fictitious male committers (15-year-old male, 40-year-old male, and 60-year-old male). The other group rated the checklist for the three fictitious female committers. The rank of endorsement for each cause was tabulated separately for age/gender cohorts, and indices of overall agreement were computed. The results indicated high agreement among all respondents on the causes of suicide considered to be most likely for a given cohort, as well as a distinct differentiation among cohorts and gender groups. The findings were discussed with reference to cultural stereotypes about suicide causes, and arguments were elaborated on the contribution of these shared beliefs to an individual's decision to commit suicide.     

Further evidence of the divergent correlates of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory factors: prediction of institutional misconduct among male prisoners

Recent evidence suggests that 2 largely orthogonal dimensions underpin the latent construct assessed by the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996): Fearless Dominance (PPI-I) and Impulsive Antisociality (PPI-II). Relatively few data exist on the correlates of these 2 dimensions in offender samples, however. The present study examines the criterion-related validity of these 2 dimensions among male prison inmates (N = 131) in relation to the prediction of 3 categories of institutional maladjustment: aggressive misconduct, nonaggressive misconduct, and any misconduct. PPI-II significantly predicted each criterion type, with effect sizes of moderate magnitude, whereas PPI-I was essentially unrelated to these outcome measures.     

Psychopathy, antisocial personality, and suicide risk

H. Cleckley (1976) maintained that psychopaths are relatively immune to suicide, but substantial evidence exists for a relationship between antisocial deviance and suicidal acts. This study was the first to explicitly examine suicidal history among psychopathic individuals as defined by R. D. Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (PCL-R). Male prison inmates (N = 313) were assessed using the PCL-R and DSM-III-R and DSM-IV criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 1987, 1994) for antisocial personality disorder (APD), and they completed A. Tellegen's (1982) Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). Presence or absence of prior suicide attempts was coded from structured interview and prison file records. Suicide history was significantly related to PCL-R Factor 2 (which reflects chronic antisocial deviance) and to APD diagnosis but was unrelated to PCL-R Factor 1, which encompasses affective and interpersonal features of psychopathy. Higher order MPQ dimensions of Negative Emotionality and low Constraint were found to account for the relationship between history of suicidal attempts and antisocial deviance, indicating that temperament traits may represent a common vulnerability for both.     

Relations between psychopathy facets and externalizing in a criminal offender sample

The construct of psychopathy is viewed as comprising distinctive but correlated affective-interpersonal and social deviance facets. Here, we examined these facets of Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) in terms of their associations with the externalizing dimension of adult psychopathology, defined as the common factor underlying symptoms of conduct disorder, adult antisocial behavior, alcohol use/abuse, and drug abuse, along with disinhibitory personality traits. Correlational analyses revealed a strong relationship between this externalizing dimension and the social deviance facet of psychopathy (r = .84), and a lesser relationship with the emotional-interpersonal component (r = .44). Structural models controlling for the moderate overlap between the PCL-R factors revealed that externalizing was substantially related to the unique variance in the social deviance features of psychopathy, but unrelated to the unique variance of the emotional and interpersonal features whether modeled together or as separate factors. These results indicate that the social deviance factor of the PCL-R reflects the externalizing dimension of psychopathology, whereas the emotional-interpersonal component taps something distinct aside from externalizing. In addition, based on our finding of an association between PCL-R social deviance and externalizing, we were able to predict new relations between this facet of psychopathy and criterion variables, including nicotine use and gambling, that have previously been linked to externalizing. Implications for future research on the causes and correlates of psychopathy are discussed.     

The psychometric properties of the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure in social anxiety disorder

The Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure (IPSM) was developed to assess hypersensitivity to interpersonal rejection, a suggested trait of depression-prone personality (Aust NZ J Psychiatry 23 (1989) 341). Although studies of the IPSM and interpersonal rejection sensitivity have primarily been conducted in depressed populations, it is important to investigate interpersonal rejection sensitivity as a relevant construct in the assessment of social anxiety. This study examined the psychometric properties of the IPSM in treatment-seeking individuals with social anxiety disorder. The results of this investigation support the convergent and divergent validity and internal consistency of the IPSM in socially anxious individuals. An exploratory factor analysis of the scale was also conducted after the original factor and subscale structure was shown to be a poor fit for the present data. Three factors emerged (Interpersonal Worry and Dependency, Low Self-Esteem, and Unassertive Interpersonal Behavior), and 29 items were retained. Because they demonstrated negative factor loadings on Factor 2, it is suggested that the scoring for four items of the original IPSM be reversed. In summary, the revised IPSM assesses three aspects of interpersonal rejection sensitivity and appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for its assessment in social anxiety disorder.     

Differential Associations Between Psychopathy Dimensions,Types of Aggression,and Response Inhibition

Findings on executive functioning in psychopathy are inconsistent. Different associations between psychopathy dimensions and executive functioning might explain contradicting findings. This study examined the role of psychopathy dimensions and types of aggression in response inhibition among 117 male adolescents (53 antisocial delinquents and 64 controls). Participants completed a self‐report measure of aggression and a GoNoGo task. Psychopathy dimensions were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version. Although high scores on the antisocial dimension and reactive aggression were associated with poor response inhibition, the affective–interpersonal dimension, proactive aggression, and verbal intelligence (IQ) were related to better response inhibition (two‐factor model). Associations with the affective–interpersonal dimensions did not reach significance. Exploratory analyses showed that affective and antisocial facets accounted for the obtained opposing associations of the affective–interpersonal and antisocial psychopathy dimensions with response inhibition. The interpersonal and lifestyle facets (four‐facet model) were unrelated to response inhibition. Results could not be explained by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Findings suggest differential associations between the psychopathy dimensions, types of aggression, and response inhibition. Therefore, a dimensional approach to psychopathy and related concepts, such as aggression, might strongly improve diagnostic procedures. Global scores could mask important differential associations. Aggr. Behav. 38:77‐88, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.