Suicide risk following trauma exposure

Traumas perpetrated by close or trusted others (i.e., higher betrayal traumas [HBT]), have been associated with exacerbated mental and physical health outcomes compared to traumas perpetrated by individuals who are not so close (i.e., lower betrayal traumas [LBT]). However, whether suicidal ideation following trauma varies by degree of betrayal is not well understood. Additionally, social problem solving (SPS) ability, a factor that has been shown to attenuate adverse outcomes following upsetting and stressful events, is understudied among trauma survivors. The present study examined the constructs of betrayal trauma and SPS in predicting past month suicide ideation severity among trauma survivors. It was hypothesized that betrayal trauma and SPS would interact to predict suicidal ideation. Self-report data were collected online via Mechanical Turk, an internet crowdsourcing platform. Among a larger sample of adults, individuals were identified as LBT and HBT and matched on age and sex (n=72 per group). Comparisons between groups regarding SI and SPS were found to be significantly worse among those with HBT (t = -2.49, p = .014; t = 2.84, p = .005, respectively). A hierarchical linear regression analysis predicting SI based on HBT, SPS, and their interaction showed the overall model to be significant (F(5, 138) = 7.372, p < .000, R2 = .211). Moreover, there was a significant interaction between HBT and SPS (t = -2.47, p = .015), suggesting that the relationship between SI and HBT is significantly attenuated by greater SPS. An analysis among LBT individuals indicated that the overall model was also significant (F(5, 138) = 4.301, p = .001, R2 = .135); however, only the main effect of SPS was found to predict SI (t = -3.570, p < .000). These findings indicate that betrayal confers unique risk for suicide among trauma survivors that may be attenuated by SPS and may inform suicide prevention and treatment planning efforts.