Suicidal intent, hopelessness and depression in a parasuicide population: The influence of social desirability and elapsed time

Abstract

This paper reports the first British study to assess the construct validity of Beck's Hopelessness Scale (HS) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). On the basis of interviews with 50 economically active parasuicide patients, it was confirmed that hopelessness accounts for the relationship between depression and suicidal intent. Moreover, it was shown that social desirability neither confounds the relationship between hopelessness and suicidal intent, nor has any predictive power in explaining variation in suicidal intent. On the other hand, the interval ('elapsed time') between the commencement of the parasuicidal act and of the research interview was significantly and positively correlated with suicidal intent, and elapsed time was a significant predictor of the total score on Beck's Suicidal Intent Scale. Two explanations for this finding are proposed: the first is based on the possibility that elapsed time is an indirect or proxy measure of medical seriousness; the second derives from the likely impact of prolonged hospital stay on the patient's interpretation or understanding of his/her behaviour. Researchers are advised to take into account the moderating effect of elapsed time when designing studies which examine psychological processes in parasuicide.