Recent Suicide Attempt Research Articles

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor in war veterans with or without a history of suicide attempt

BackgroundBrain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a central role in brain development and plasticity and has been demonstrated to be altered in neuropsychiatric diseases and suicidal behavior. We examined whether there is a difference with regard to plasma BDNF levels between veterans who made or did not make a suicide attempt post-deployment. MethodsCombat veterans who made or did not make post-deployment suicide attempts were interviewed using Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale, the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) and the Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI). Reaction to the most recent suicide attempt was evaluated using item 16 of the Suicide Intent Scale. Plasma BDNF levels were determined by the BDNF ELISA kit. ResultsControlling for age and body-mass index (BMI), BDNF levels were higher among suicide attempters than non-attempters. We observed a positive correlation between BDNF levels and SSI scores among non-attempters but not among attempters. BDNF levels positively correlated with BIS scores among suicide attempters but not among non-attempters. Suicide attempters who regretted that they made a suicide attempt had significantly higher BDNF levels in comparison to attempters who did not regret their attempts, controlling or not controlling for age and BMI. LimitationsA modest sample size is a shortcoming of our study. ConclusionsOur study demonstrates that BDNF may be involved in the pathophysiology of suicidal behavior in combat veterans. Given the relative ease of measuring plasma BDNF levels, it may be appropriate to consider adding such assessments to studies of suicidal behavior.

"If I Had Access to a Gun, I Think I Would Have Used it Instead": Motivations for Method Choice Among Sexual and Gender Minority Adults Who Made a Recent Near-Fatal Suicide Attempt.

Purpose: We examined motivations for suicide attempt method choice among sexual and/or gender minority (SGM) adults who attempted suicide in the previous 18 months. Methods: Individual semistructured interviews (N = 22) explored participants' motivations. Results: Five reasons influenced method choices: accessibility, perceived lethality, familiarity, not having access to a firearm, and concerns about pain and violence involved with other methods. Conclusion: Methods of suicide attempt are critical for informing SGM suicide prevention efforts. Future research should investigate whether and how lethal means restriction efforts are implemented within the contexts in which SGM people live and obtain mental health care (e.g., SGM community centers).

Treatment of Patients Presenting With Suicidal Behavior in North American Pediatric Emergency Departments.

This study sought to identify current practices for the treatment of patients presenting with suicidal ideation or a recent suicide attempt in pediatric emergency departments (EDs) in North America. From October 10, 2018, to January 19, 2020, the authors conducted a cross-sectional online survey on current practices of pediatric emergency medicine chiefs practicing in the United States and Canada. Forty-six (34%) of 136 chiefs of pediatric emergency medicine responded to the survey. The three most frequent improvements chiefs reported they would like to see in the care of young patients with suicidal ideation or suicide attempt were easier access to mental health personnel for evaluations, having mental health personnel take primary responsibility for patient evaluation and treatment, and better access to mental health personnel for dispositional planning. The findings highlight the need for better mental health care in pediatric EDs to serve patients at increased risk for suicide.

Prevalence of Anxiety Symptoms and Associated Clinical and Sociodemographic Factors in Mexican Adults Seeking Psychological Support for Grief During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the greatest challenges in modern history, with more than four million confirmed deaths worldwide. To date, evidence regarding the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on grievers is scarce for developing countries such as Mexico. This study aimed to assess the levels of anxiety and associated concerns in a sample of Mexican adults bereaved during the COVID-19 outbreak. A cross-sectional study was conducted through the Duelo COVID (COVID Grief) platform, which is a self-guided online treatment. A total of 5,224 participants reported their anxiety, depression, sleep quality, avoidance, and arousal, prolonged grief symptoms, and medication consumption. Independent sample Mann-Whitney U-tests, chi-square tests, and Kruskal-Wallis tests, as well as multinomial logistic regression, were conducted. Results indicated that 90.4% of the participants reported clinical levels of anxiety, depression, and sleep affectations. The people who lost someone during the last 5 months scored higher in normal grief symptoms compared to the people whose loss was 6 months ago or more, and 9.8% of individuals reported the use of prescription medication, with anxiolytics and antidepressants being the most common. Females, younger respondents, unemployed people with a lower educational level, and participants who disclosed a recent suicide attempt were among those who reported medication consumption. Sleep problems were more frequent in older participants.

Alterations of insular dynamic functional connectivity and psychological characteristics in unmedicated bipolar depression patients with a recent suicide attempt.

Mounting evidence showed that insula contributed to the neurobiological mechanism of suicidal behaviors in bipolar disorder (BD). However, no studies have analyzed the dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) of insular Mubregions and its association with personality traits in BD with suicidal behaviors. Therefore, we investigated the alterations of dFC variability in insular subregions and personality characteristics in BD patients with a recent suicide attempt (SA). Thirty unmedicated BD patients with SA, 38 patients without SA (NSA) and 35 demographically matched healthy controls (HCs) were included. The sliding-window analysis was used to evaluate whole-brain dFC for each insular subregion seed. We assessed between-group differences of psychological characteristics on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2. Finally, a multivariate regression model was adopted to predict the severity of suicidality. Compared to NSA and HCs, the SA group exhibited decreased dFC variability values between the left dorsal anterior insula and the left anterior cerebellum. These dFC variability values could also be utilized to predict the severity of suicidality (r = 0.456, p = 0.031), while static functional connectivity values were not appropriate for this prediction. Besides, the SA group scored significantly higher on the schizophrenia clinical scales (p < 0.001) compared with the NSA group. Our findings indicated that the dysfunction of insula-cerebellum connectivity may underlie the neural basis of SA in BD patients, and highlighted the dFC variability values could be considered a neuromarker for predictive models of the severity of suicidality. Moreover, the psychiatric features may increase the vulnerability of suicidal behavior.

BIS sensitivity, BAS sensitivity, and recent suicide attempts

Suicide attempts are motivated by the desire to escape aversive states and circumstances, suggesting they may be regulated by the behavioral inhibition system (BIS). Suicide attempts are also associated with reward pursuit, however, implicating a role for the behavioral activation system (BAS). We hypothesized that the interaction of high BIS and BAS sensitivity would be associated with increased risk of past-month suicide attempt. 10,625 adults completed an anonymous online survey assessing BIS sensitivity, BAS sensitivity, past-month suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, and relevant covariates. Results of logistic regression modeling yielded a statistically significant BIS-BAS interaction in the full sample and the subset of participants reporting past-month suicidal ideation (n = 489). At low BIS levels, BAS sensitivity was negatively correlated with suicide attempts; at mean BIS levels, BAS sensitivity was not correlated with suicide attempts; and at high BIS levels, BAS sensitivity was positively correlated with suicide attempts. Results suggest that vulnerability to suicide attempts may be increased among people with heightened reward responsiveness (i.e., high BAS sensitivity) when they experience competing incentives (i.e., high BIS sensitivity). Implications for clinical practice and the prevention of suicide are discussed.

Clinical Dimensions Associated With Psychological Pain in Suicidal Patients: One-Year Follow-up Study.

Objective: Psychological pain is a transdiagnostic factor in mental health and a key clinical dimension to understand suicide in patients with mood disorders. However, less is known about the clinical characteristics that predict high psychological pain. The aim of this study was to fill this gap in a sample of patients with mood disorders.Methods: Inpatients admitted for a major depressive episode, according to DSM-IV criteria, from 2010 to 2017 were divided into 3 groups: 178 recent suicide attempters (within the last 7 days), 101 past suicide attempters (lifetime history of suicide attempt), and 93 nonattempters (no lifetime history of suicidal act). At inclusion, current psychopathology, medication, personality traits (impulsivity, anxiety, hopelessness), and childhood trauma were assessed. At inclusion and at 1-year follow-up, depressive symptomatology and current and maximal (within the 15 last days) psychological and physical pain were assessed.Results: At baseline, maximal psychological pain was higher in recent than in past suicide attempters (odds ratio [OR] = 1.18 [1.04-1.35]) and nonattempters (OR = 1.32 [1.16-1.50]). In the multivariate model, depression severity (OR = 1.11 [1.08-1.16]) and worst physical pain (OR = 2.53 [1.28-5.02]) predicted high psychological pain, whereas bipolar disorder (OR = 0.54 [0.29-0.98]) predicted low psychological pain. During the follow-up, the change in maximal psychological pain was predicted by changes in depressive symptomatology (β = 0.46, P < .001) and maximal physical pain (β = 0.42, P < .003). Finally, among depressive symptoms, guilt, lack of initiative, and loss of appetite better explained maximal psychological pain, both at inclusion and at 1 year (all P < .050).Conclusions: Psychological pain is associated with a recent suicidal act and depressive severity. Due to the strong link between psychological pain and physical pain, future studies should investigate whether psychotropic drugs with analgesic effects protect from psychological pain and therefore from suicide.

Lithium shows no preventive benefit in veterans surviving suicide attempt

Adding lithium to usual care for military veterans with bipolar disorder or depression who had survived a recent suicide attempt did not prevent the occurrence of future suicide‐related events, a placebo‐controlled trial has found. The trial, conducted at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers, was stopped for futility after randomization of 519 participants. Results were published online Nov. 17, 2021, in JAMA Psychiatry.

How do sexual and gender minority people acquire the capability for suicide? Voices from survivors of near-fatal suicide attempts

Despite well-documented disparities by sexual and gender minority (SGM) status in suicide attempt and mortality rates, few studies have investigated the lived experiences that contribute to SGM people's disproportionate risk of suicide. Having a history of at least one near-fatal (or medically serious) suicide attempt serves as a proxy for suicide mortality, but no known study has involved SGM people who have made such an attempt. Ideation-to-action theories of suicide posit that individuals acquire the capability for suicide through repeated exposure to painful and provocative events – namely, traumatic, threatening, and risky experiences – that can diminish the pain and fear of death. Yet whether identity-specific features of acquired capability for suicide contribute to SGM people's disproportionate risk of suicide remains unknown. Drawing upon interviews with 22 SGM people who experienced a recent near-fatal suicide attempt, the current study sought to identify specific determinants of how SGM individuals acquire the capability to kill themselves, a potentially powerful, and modifiable, pathway to suicide. Results identified three SGM-specific contributors to the acquired capability for suicide: (1) identity invalidation during developmentally sensitive periods of childhood and adolescence that left participants feeling erased, invisible, and, in some cases, non-existent; (2) normalization of suicide within SGM social networks that increased acceptability and reduced the fear of suicide; and (3) structural stigma and SGM community trauma as habituating sources of pain that engendered feelings of exhaustion and positioned suicide as a reprieve from pervasive anti-SGM norms. This study demonstrates that dominant suicidology theories might need to be refined to account for the stigma-related determinants of SGM suicide. Further, this study reinforces the importance of qualitative methods for understanding the lived experience of suicide and calls for SGM-specific suicide prevention efforts to respond to stigma to support those SGM people who contemplate suicide.

Suicidal behaviour in the social environment: Does exposure moderate the relationship between an individual's own suicidal ideation and behaviour?

Suicidal behaviour still cannot be sufficiently predicted. Exposure to suicidal behaviour in the personal social environment is assumed to moderate the individual's transition from suicidal ideation to suicidal behaviour within the integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behaviour (IMV model). This study aimed to investigate this moderating effect in a German high-risk sample. We interviewed 308 psychiatric inpatients (53% female) aged 18 to 81 years (M = 36.9, SD = 14.30) admitted after attempted suicide (53%) or due to an acute suicidal crisis (47%) regarding exposure events in their social environment. Four types of exposure events were analysed using moderation analyses: familial suicides/suicide attempts and non-familial suicides/suicide attempts. Additionally, the numbers of reported exposure events were compared between patients with and without a recent suicide attempt as well as between patients with lifetime suicide attempts and lifetime suicidal ideation. Neither moderating effects of exposure events on the relationship between lifetime suicidal ideation and recent suicidal behaviour nor group differences between suicidal ideators and suicide attempters regarding the exposure events were found. Exposure events might have differential and possibly protective effects on suicidal behaviour-depending on type and quality (intensity, personal relevance and recency) of event-and on the outcome (suicide vs. suicide attempt).

Managing a COVID-Positive health-care worker with recent suicide attempt through telepsychiatry

Managing a COVID-Positive health-care worker with recent suicide attempt through telepsychiatry

Executive Functioning, Emotion Regulation, and Negative Emotion in Suicidal Older Adults

Deficits in executive functioning, emotion regulation, and negative emotion have all been linked to suicidality. Yet, the complex interactions between these three factors and their relationships to suicidal behavior in older adults remain unclear. Participants (N = 39) were depressed middle and older adult (M = 62.0, SD = 9.41) inpatients with recent suicidal attempt or ideation, without psychotic depression or moderate or greater cognitive impairment (DRS>90). Participants were administered measures of executive functioning (Stroop and COWAT), emotion regulation (ERQ Suppression and Reappraisal; RRS-Brooding; UPPS- Premediation Scale), and negative emotion (PANAS-X), in addition to measures of depression (MADRS) and suicidality (C-SSRS). Results indicated that executive functioning was not significantly related to emotion regulation or negative affect, but measures of emotion regulation were related to negative emotion and frequency of suicidal ideation in bivariate analyses. Lower ERQ reappraisal tended to be associated with negative emotion (ß = -.392, p = .067) in multivariate analyses. Although comparisons were non-significant, effect sizes revealed that those who experienced daily suicidal ideation (C-SSRS) had lower reappraisal and higher brooding scores (Cohen’s d = 1.014 - 1.456), as well as higher executive functioning (Stroop Color-Word trial) and overall cognition (DRS) scores (Cohen’s d = 0.625 – 0.792) than less frequent ideators. Findings suggest that older inpatients with frequent suicidal ideation have poorer emotion regulation but may have more intact cognition and executive functioning than those with less frequent suicidal ideation.

The Association between Neuroticism and Re-Attempted Suicide

Background: Strong evidence suggests that suicide attempters who repeat suicide (re-attempters) may differ from those with a single attempt (single attempters) in various clinical and sociodemographic factors. Furthermore, there is some evidence that re-attempters may be characterized by higher levels of neuroticism, a well-known risk factor for completed suicide compared to single attempters. Purpose: The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible association between neuroticism and re-attempted suicide. Methods and Materials: 230 recent drug-free suicide attempters were involved into the study. Clinical diagnoses were assessed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition-Revised (DSM-III-R). Personality traits were measured by the Karolinska Scale of Personality (KSP). Results and Conclusions: There was a significant association between re-attempted suicide, female gender, personality disorder and higher levels of impulsivity. We found that re-attempters had significantly higher levels of neuroticism compared to single attempters adjusted of gender, personality disorder diagnosis, age and impulsivity. Our result gives further evidence for the association between re-attempted suicide and neuroticism.

ADHD symptoms and suicide attempts in adults with mood disorders: An observational naturalistic study

• In a sample of adults, ADHD symptoms were significantly associated with suicide attempt (lifetime and in the last 3 months) only among participants with mood disorders. • Our study suggests that ADHD symptoms among adults with mood disorders might have a role in increasing the risk of suicide attempt only when the two conditions are comorbid. • The present findings stress the importance of evaluating the co-occurrence of ADHD symptoms and mood disorders among adults, and also to carefully assess the risk of suicide in the presence of such comorbidity. • Further research on the mechanisms underlying the moderating role of mood disorders in the association between ADHD symptoms and suicide attempts may lead to a better understanding of preventing suicide in this at-risk group. Although several studies explored the association between ADHD and suicidality in the pediatric population, there is a lack of studies focusing on adults. It is particularly unclear whether comorbid mood disorders confer an increased risk of suicidal ideation and attempt among individuals with high ADHD symptoms. Participants were 111 inpatients admitted to the Department of Psychiatry of Sant'Andrea Hospital between July 2017 and July 2018. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Lifetime and last-month suicidal ideation and attempts were rated with The Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Symptoms of ADHD were rated using The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Version 1.1 (ASRS-V1.1). Of the 111 participants, 40.6% had a history of suicide attempts. No associations were found between ADHD symptoms and suicide attempt/ideation as well as mood disorder diagnosis and suicide attempt, while an association between mood disorder diagnosis and suicidal ideation was found. ADHD symptoms were significantly associated with suicide attempt (lifetime and in the last 3 months) only among participants with mood disorders (lifetime, OR 2.30; 95% CI: 0.97–3.64; 3-months OR 2.34; 95% CI: 0.19–4.49) Given the cross-sectional nature of the study, the directions of the associations described are uncertain. Conclusions: ADHD symptoms were significantly associated with lifetime and recent suicide attempts, only when a mood disorder diagnosis was comorbid. The co-occurrence of ADHD symptoms and a mood disorders diagnosis might confer a higher risk of suicide attempt among adults.

Serious Suicide Attempt by Hunting Gun with Severely Infectious Wounds and Facial Deformity during COVID-19 Arena; A Case Report

The etiology of suicide among students around the world revolves issues such as communication, education, family problems and parents’ relationship. We intend to report a case with serious recurrent suicide attempt by gun shot during COVID-19 period. We also present psychiatric and clinical evaluation, cosmetic surgery consultation, as well as microbial assessments in this survey. The seventeen-year-old single male student from southwest of Iran with asymmetric deformed face was observed with the loss of parts of the mouse, nose, chin and mandible region .He had experienced a serious suicide attempt by a threatening plan following rejection. The patient had blurred, hypo phonic and hypotonic speech. Following the shooting, the soft and hard palate, facial, frontal bone and sinus had been destroyed and a foreign body was seen in the frontal sinus. After suicide risk as assessment, It was detected multiple predictive risk factors for recent suicide attempt and the possibility of recurrent suicide in future. Finally, reconstructive surgery was performed. We assessed him via face to face interview in order to identify psychiatric disorders. Also, he was evaluated as probability of committing recurrent suicide. It is emphasized that in families which young children are prone to psychiatric disorders or emotional problems, availability of a dangerous device such as a gun can be harmful and it should be removed as soon as possible. We suggest the need for psychiatric evaluation especially suicide phenomenon in adolescents and their families as various conflicts in family context.

Perseverative Thinking about Suicide Questionnaire (PTSQ): Validation of a new measure to assess suicide-specific rumination

BackgroundSuicide-specific rumination has been shown to be associated with lifetime suicide attempts as well as suicide intent and might be an important risk factor for the transition from suicidal ideation to suicidal behavior. Based on this background, the wording of the items of an often-used self-report measure assessing core characteristics of rumination was adapted to assess specifically suicide-specific rumination. MethodsThe entire study sample comprised N = 1689 participants from the German healthcare sector. A total of 721 participants with a history of suicidal ideation (68% female; Mage = 30.63, SDage = 8.41, range: 18–81 years) who had completed five measures assessing suicide-specific rumination, suicidal ideation, depression, hopelessness, and resilience were included for the present examination. Factorial validity (Exploratory [EFA] to determine the appropriate number of factors and confirmatory factor analyses [CFA] after randomly splitting of the sample to validate the EFA solution), construct validity, and reliability were evaluated. ResultsThe EFA revealed a one-factor solution consisting of four items, which could be confirmed within a CFA (RMSR = 0.006; RMSEA = 0.039; CFI = 0.999; TLI = 0.998). Internal consistency was excellent with Cronbachs α = 0.93. Construct validity was given with moderate to high positive correlations with suicidal ideation (0.76), depression (0.55), and hopelessness (0.38) and negative correlation with resilience (−0.31). Participants with recent suicidal ideation and/or lifetime suicide attempt reported significantly more suicide-specific rumination than those with only lifetime suicidal ideation. ConclusionA new 4-item measure for suicide-specific rumination was developed and could be shown to be a reliable and valid instrument in a large German sample. Results emphasize the potential importance of suicide-specific rumination for the understanding of trajectories of suicidal ideation and suicide risk assessments.

Plasma circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA in depressive disorders.

Plasma circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA (ccf-mtDNA) is an immunogenic molecule and a novel biomarker of psychiatric disorders. Some previous studies reported increased levels of ccf-mtDNA in unmedicated depression and recent suicide attempters, while other studies found unchanged or decreased ccf-mtDNA levels in depression. Inconsistent findings across studies may be explained by small sample sizes and between-study variations in somatic and psychiatric co-morbidity or medication status. We measured plasma ccf-mtDNA in a cohort of 281 patients with depressive disorders and 49 healthy controls. Ninety-three percent of all patients were treated with one or several psychotropic medications. Thirty-six percent had a personality disorder, 13% bipolar disorder. All analyses involving ccf-mtDNA were a priori adjusted for age and sex. Mean levels in ccf-mtDNA were significantly different between patients with a current depressive episode (n = 236), remitted depressive episode (n = 45) and healthy controls (n = 49) (f = 8.3, p<0.001). Post-hoc tests revealed that both patients with current (p<0.001) and remitted (p = 0.002) depression had lower ccf-mtDNA compared to controls. Within the depressed group there was a positive correlation between ccf-mtDNA and "inflammatory depression symptoms" (r = 0.15, p = 0.02). We also found that treatment with mood stabilizers lamotrigine, valproic acid or lithium was associated with lower ccf-mtDNA (f = 8.1, p = 0.005). Decreased plasma ccf-mtDNA in difficult-to-treat depression may be partly explained by concurrent psychotropic medications and co-morbidity. Our findings suggest that ccf-mtDNA may be differentially regulated in different subtypes of depression, and this hypothesis should be pursued in future studies.

Inflammation biomarkers in suicide attempts and their relation to abuse, global functioning and cognition

Objectives To explore the link between cytokines and suicide attempts and their relationship with the psychological aspects of this complex multifactorial phenomenon. Methods 96 participants, including 20 patients with a recent suicide attempt and diagnosis of Major Depression Disorder (MDD), 33 MDD patients with a lifetime history of suicide attempt, 23 non-attempter MDD patients, and 20 healthy controls underwent an assessment on depressive symptoms, global functioning, aggressive behaviour, presence of abuse and attention performance. Additionally, all participants had a blood extraction for IL-2, IL2-R, IL-4, IL-6, and TNF-α plasma levels analysis. Results IL-6 levels were significantly different across groups (F(3,89)=3.690; p = 0.015), with higher concentrations in both recent (p = 0.04) and distant (p = 0.015) attempt in comparison to MDD non-attempters. IL-6 was associated with adult physical abuse (B = 2.591; p = 0.021), lower global functioning score (B = −0.512; p = 0.011), and poorer performance on attention (B = −0.897; p = 0.011). Conclusions Recent and distant suicidal behaviour is associated with elevated IL-6 levels, which may be influenced by stressful and traumatic experiences. Elevated concentrations of IL-6 could have a negative impact on attention, increasing suicide risk. More research is needed to clarify the role of cytokines in suicide-related features to explore novel treatments and more effective preventive interventions.

Demographic and Clinical Correlates of High-lethality Suicide Attempts: A Retrospective Study in Psychiatric Inpatients.

Assessment of the lethality of suicide attempts is a neglected topic in the literature in this area. Based on the hypothesis that suicide attempters who choose a highly lethal method differ from those who use less lethal methods, we analyzed the characteristics of suicide attempters who used different suicide methods to determine demographic and clinical risk factors for the lethality of suicide methods. For this purpose, we used the Risk-Rescue Rating Scale to assess the lethality of the suicide method in a consecutive sample of 107 psychiatric inpatients with a recent suicide attempt (in 6 mo before hospitalization). The results demonstrated that patients who used a highly lethal method were younger and more frequently single. A novel finding of this study was that earlier age of onset of psychiatric symptoms and a higher number of previous hospitalizations were associated with the use of more lethal methods. In conclusion, patients who used more lethal methods differed from those who used less lethal methods. Identification of these differences may be necessary to implement specific suicide prevention strategies in patients with psychiatric conditions.

Arrest and non-fatal suicide attempts among men: analysis of survey data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health

BackgroundStudies have found an association between recent arrest and suicide attempts, but the population-level significance of this link has not been reported. We estimated the population attributable risk percent (PAR%) of self-reported non-fatal suicide attempts based on recent arrest in a national sample of adult men.MethodsThis study included men aged ≥18 who completed the 2008–2019 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. The outcome measure was any non-fatal suicide attempts in the past year. The primary independent variable was any arrest in the past year. Major depression and substance use disorders were also included as independent variables for comparison. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression with postestimation marginal effects ascertained the PAR% of non-fatal suicide attempts for arrest, major depression, and substance use disorders, while controlling for sociodemographic covariates. All analyses applied survey weights. We disaggregated analyses by race/ethnicity.ResultsIn the sample of 220,261 men, arrest accounted for 8.9% (99% CI 5.1 to 12.6%, p < 0.001) of non-fatal suicide attempts, while major depression accounted for 40.3% (99% CI 35.0 to 45.1%. p < 0.001) and substance use disorders for 24.1% (99% CI 17.6 to 30.2%, p < 0.001). After disaggregating by race/ethnicity, arrest accounted for 9.5% (99% CI 4.5 to 14.3%, p < 0.001) of suicide attempts among Non-Hispanic White men and fell short of statistical significance for Non-Hispanic Black men (10.2, 99% CI − 3.0 to 21.6%, p = 0.043) and Hispanic men (8.1, 99% CI − 0.5 to 15.9%, p = 0.016).ConclusionsArrest accounted for nearly one in eleven non-fatal suicide attempts in a national sample of American men, which is by extension about 50,000 suicide attempts per year. Results were similar for Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic men, although there were differences in prevalence of arrest and suicide attempts. Unlike major depression, arrest is an easily identifiable event, and the period after arrest might provide an opportunity to support mental health and coping.