Abstract
Suicide, as one of the leading causes of death for the adolescent population, both in Chile and globally, remains a complex and elusive phenomenon. This research studies the association between positive and negative affect in relation with suicidal ideation and suicidal attempt, given that affectivity is a fundamental basis on which people make evaluations on their satisfaction with life. First, it examines the reliability, structure, and validity of Watson’s positive and negative affect scale (PANAS) scale in a representative random sample of Chilean high school students (N = 4,568). The scale evidences strong reliability coefficients and a confirmatory factor analysis, excluding one positive (excited) and one negative (nervous) item. The scale shows a satisfactory goodness of fit. Secondly, it investigates the association of PANAS positive and negative affect scores with suicidal ideation as well as reported attempt in adolescents, controlling for the potential effect of age and sex (N = 420 high school students). Low positive and high negative affect, but not sex and age, show a significant association with suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation totally mediates the association of affect with suicide attempt, as expected. Results are discussed regarding prevention and it considers how positive and negative affect can be relevant as indicators for prevention and treatment using widely available technology.
Highlights
This study examines affect dimensions, measurements, and the association between positive and negative affect regarding suicidal ideation
Age was associated with negative affect (r = −0.11, p < 0.05)
The percentage of participants who answered “never” to each item was 33% for “Have you thought that life was not worth it?,” 42% to “Have you ever wished you were dead?,” and 56% to “Have you ever thought about ending your life?.”
Summary
This study examines affect dimensions, measurements, and the association between positive and negative affect regarding suicidal ideation. The main issue with this approach is that it is essentially focused on people with psychological or psychiatric disorders (Gould et al, 1998; Prinstein et al, 2000; Sareen et al, 2005; Hauser et al, 2013; Koutek et al, 2016; Barros et al, 2017; Miché et al, 2018; Hill et al, 2019), with less empirical evidence for non-clinical adolescents Those who have centered research on non-clinical adolescents have found that stress (related to negative affect) and hopelessness and social isolation (associated to low positive affect), are significant predictors of suicidal ideation (Wilburn and Smith, 2005; Van Orden et al, 2010). We expect that suicidal ideation plays a mediator role between affect and suicide attempt
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