(PS11-6) Agitation Is Uniquely Related to Suicide Ideation Above and Beyond Conceptually Similar Risk Factors for Suicide

Background: Psychological agitation has been linked to increased suicide ideation (SI) severity and is central to multiple conceptualizations of acute risk for suicide (e.g., Acute Suicidal Affective Disturbance). Yet, little research has examined if psychological agitation is distinct from conceptually similar constructs pertaining to heightened negative affect and SI, such as distress tolerance, emotion dysregulation, anxiety sensitivity, impulsivity, and suicidal cognitions (i.e., broader attitudes about the self that reflect an incapability to be loved, endure emotional experiences, and solve problems), and if agitation relates to SI above and beyond these constructs.

Purpose: This study examined the discriminant validity of agitation compared to conceptually similar constructs and the incremental validity of agitation in predicting SI above and beyond these constructs.

Method: A sample of 219 adults with a history of SI were recruited through MTurk (M_age = 35.28, SD_age = 11.62; 59.8% cisgender women; 77.6% White). They completed self-report measures via an online survey.

Results: Zero-order correlations between agitation and the other transdiagnostic variables were high but below recommended thresholds (Hair et al., 2014; r’s = -.50 - .57, p’s < .001), thereby supporting discriminant validity. Hierarchical linear regression demonstrated that agitation predicted SI above and beyond the other transdiagnostic constructs (B = 0.29, SE = 0.10, p = .006, 95% CI [0.08, 0.49], ∆R² = .03).

Discussion: These results support a conceptualization of psychological agitation as a highly related yet distinct construct from distress tolerance, emotion dysregulation, anxiety sensitivity, impulsivity, and suicidal cognitions. Of these constructs, agitation may play a particularly critical role in assessing vulnerability to suicidal ideation. As such, further emphasizing measures of psychological agitation in existing suicide risk assessment protocols (e.g., Chu et al., 2015) may help to better recognize periods of increased vulnerability for suicidal individuals in their care and facilitate more expedient connection to appropriate resources.