Positive and negative attitudes mediating suicide ideation.

Both the presence of negative expectancies (Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974) and the absence of positive reasons for living (Linehan, Goodstein, Nielsen & Chiles, 1983) have been offered as partial explanations for why individuals consider suicide. The independent viability of these two explanations is evaluated in three studies that assess: (1) the distinctiveness of the nomological networks of measures of these two approaches; and (2) the latent variables that might account for any observed distinctiveness and for how two relatively independent constructs could both be related to suicide. Results obtained from both nonclinical and clinical samples consistently indicate distinct nomological nets for measures of "hopelessness" and "reasons for living." Results suggest that these measures are both related to suicide because measured suicide intent is a bi-factorial construct and measures of hopelessness and reasons for living are related to different underlying factors. Suicide intent is related to latent variables labelled "neuroticism" and "psychoticism;" hopelessness is related to these two factors and to "extraversion;" reasons for living is primarily related to psychoticism.