Psychometric evaluation of the Dutch Persecutory Ideation Questionnaire (PIQ) and its relation to aggression

Patients with schizophrenia and a violent past more often have persecutory delusions than other types of delusions. The main aim of the present study was to examine the relation between persecutory ideation and self-reported aggression in a community based and clinical population. A second aim was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Persecutory Ideation Questionnaire (PIQ; McKay, Langdon, & Coltheart, 2006). From the general population, 269 persons were included as well as 79 inpatients from different psychiatric facilities. In the community based sample, the PIQ appeared to be a reliable and valid instrument to measure persecutory ideation. Evaluation of the PIQ in a sample with patients with a psychotic disorder showed that the PIQ had good criterion validity. In addition, results showed that persecutory ideation was significantly related to self-reported aggression in the community based, and in the clinical sample. Moreover, in the community based sample, this association was higher than that between positive psychopathological experiences in general and aggression in the community based sample. In sum, persecutory ideation can be measured reliably with the PIQ, and there seems a robust relation between persecutory ideation in particular and aggression in both clinical and community based samples.     

Loneliness and Suicidal Risk in Young Adults: Does Believing in a Changeable Future Help Minimize Suicidal Risk Among the Lonely?

This study examined loneliness and future orientation as predictors of suicidal risk, namely, depressive symptoms and suicide ideation, in a sample of 228 college students (54 males and 174 females). Results of regression analyses indicated that loneliness was a significant predictor of both indices of suicidal risk. The inclusion of future orientation was found to significantly augment the prediction model of both depressive symptoms and suicide ideation, even after accounting for loneliness. Noteworthy, beyond loneliness and future orientation, the Loneliness × Future Orientation interaction term was found to further augment both prediction models of suicidal risk. Consistent with the notion that future orientation is an important buffer of suicidal risk, among lonely students, those with high future orientation, compared to low future orientation, were found to report significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms and suicide ideation. Some implications of the present findings for studying both risk and protective factors associated with suicidal risk in young adults are discussed.     

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.     

生活事件与大学生自杀意念的关系——气质性乐观的调节作用

目的在医学生中探讨气质性乐观、生活事件与自杀意念的关系。方法采用自杀意念自评量表以及乐观问卷、青少年生活事件量表对两所医学院校的800名临床医学专业学生进行调查。结果①应激事件对医学生的自杀意念水平有正向预测作用,应激事件越严重,学生的自杀意念水平越高;②气质性乐观对应激事件与自杀意念之间的关系具有调节作用。结论气质性乐观是负性生活事件与自杀意念之间的调节器。     

催眠恢复偏执型精神分裂症患者自知力的研究

为探讨精神分裂症的成因和治疗,对病程由初发至25年不等的23例偏执型精神分裂症患者,使用催眠进行了研究性治疗。实验结果是19例痊愈,4例无效。患者在催眠下均报告出曾有强烈的心因性事件发生和在悲伤的情绪下三至五天的失眠史,并在失眠后出现现在的症状。提示催眠是与精神分裂症患者沟通的治疗手段,还似乎提示精神分裂症是心因性疾病。     

Drop-in suicide prevention group decreases suicidal ideation among Veterans

This study examined the effectiveness of a weekly, drop-in therapy support group designed for Veterans identified at increased risk for suicide. Veterans were identified as at risk for suicide and referred to the group following hospitalization on the inpatient psychiatric unit after an increase in suicidal ideation (SI), presentation to a provider with SI with a plan, or having made a suicide attempt. An archival chart review was performed on 359 patients who were referred to the Coping, Understanding, Support, and Prevention Group from 2009 through 2011. Documented risk of suicide was collected from the chart including: frequency of inpatient psychiatric hospitalization, visits to the emergency department or mental health walk in clinic for SI, reported SI in clinical notes, consults resulting from calls to the Veteran’s Crisis Line, and assignment or removal of suicide risk behavior flags in the electronic medical record, for a period of 12 months prior to referral to the group and for a period of 12 months after referral to the group. Negative binomial regression models found that Veterans attending the support group showed a significantly greater reduction in frequency of endorsing SI post-referral compared to those who did not attend the group. Results imply that offering Veterans an ongoing therapeutic group format to give and receive support from peers also struggling with suicide risk factors is an effective way to reduce suicide-related thoughts.     

Relationship between annual household income and suicidal ideation: a cross-sectional study

Previous studies have shown that high income was associated with low risk of death by suicide; however, the extent to which household income reduces suicidal ideation remains unclear. We performed a survey to examine the relationship between annual household income and suicidal ideation and determine the level of annual household income at which suicidal ideation no longer decreased as income increased. In total, 94,131 members of Internet survey panels were recruited as participants by a major Japanese Internet survey company in 2016. The participants completed a self-administered questionnaire consisting of items pertaining to demographics, annual household income, and suicidal ideation. We performed logistic regression analysis with suicidal ideation as the dependent variable and income level as the independent variable. The results showed that odds ratios for suicidal ideation decreased as annual household incomes increased, with sex, age, educational level, marital status, and parenthood adjusted for; however, once annual household incomes exceeded 8 million JPY (approximately 77,700 USD), the risk of suicidal ideation no longer decreased. We conclude that suicidal ideation was negatively associated with annual household income and 8 million JPY (approximately 77,700 USD) is a threshold beyond which further increases in income no longer reduce individuals’ suicidal ideation.     

Gender‐specific factors associated with the suicidal ideation of children in Taiwan: A large‐scale cross‐sectional study

We examined the relationship between suicidal ideation (SI) and the depressed mood, life stress and parenting styles in children. A large‐scale survey was conducted including 5328 children from 65 elementary schools in Taiwan. SI was measured by asking children if any suicidal thoughts had occurred in the previous month. A series of regression models was analysed separately for male and female students. Compared with boys, girls demonstrated a higher proportion of SI. Among boys, SI was significantly associated with a high level of perceived environmental stress (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.61), a high degree of depressed mood (aOR = 2.39), authoritative (aOR = 1.72) and authoritarian (aOR = 2.53) parenting styles and two or more life‐stress events (aOR = 1.45). A high level of perceived environmental stress (aOR = 2.09), a high degree of depressed mood (aOR = 2.89) and an authoritarian parenting style (aOR = 1.76) were significantly associated with the SI in girls. Gender‐specific interventions aimed at preventing SI must enhance support systems at school and at home, particularly for students who suffer from a high degree of stress and depressed mood, and are subjected to an authoritarian parenting style.     

Reception and willingness to share pseudo‐profound bullshit and their relation to other epistemically suspect beliefs and cognitive ability in Slovakia and Romania

Propensity to judge randomly generated, syntactically correct (i.e., bullshit) statements as profound is associated with a variety of conceptually relevant variables (e.g., intuitive cognitive style and supernatural beliefs). Besides generalizing these findings to a different cultural setting, we examined the relationships to sharing the bullshit on social media. Rating nonsense as profound was associated with a lower cognitive ability; a stronger belief in the paranormal, alternative medicine, and conspiracies; and ontological confusion. The more profound a statement was rated to be, the more likely it was to be shared, and propensity for sharing bullshit was predicted by ontological confusion and religious beliefs. Bullshit receptivity and sharing may be closely related to several dimensions of epistemically suspect beliefs; people with these propensities are relatively open to vague statements resembling New Age spirituality.