(PS3-30) Relationships Between Emotion Beliefs and Current Suicidal Ideation: The Moderating Role of Negative Affect

Across three studies, we examined the relationships between emotion beliefs and current suicidal ideation and whether levels of negative affect moderated these relationships. In Study 1 (n=371 undergraduates) and Study 2 (n=143 community adults) participants completed measures assessing the degree to which they believed that emotions and their own emotions can change and the degree to which they endorsed individual beliefs about emotions such as that their emotions last a long time. All individuals reported on their current level of suicidal ideation and negative affect. In Study 1, more malleable views of emotions in general were associated with lower levels of suicidal ideation (r(369)= -.11, p=.042). Across both studies, more malleable views of one’s own emotions were associated with lower levels of current suicidal ideation (r(369)= -.22, p< .001; r(141)=-.22, p=.020). In Study 1, levels of negative affect moderated the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and suicidal ideation. Specifically, while there was no significant association between emotion malleability beliefs and suicidal ideation at lower levels of negative affect (p=.981), there was a significant association between more malleable emotion beliefs and less suicidal ideation at higher levels of negative affect (b= -.27, SE=.06, p</em>< .001, CI [-.394, -.143]). A parallel finding emerged for beliefs about one’s own emotions in Study 2; more malleable personal emotion beliefs were associated with less suicidal ideation at higher, but not lower, levels of negative affect (b= -.26, SE=.06, p< .001, CI [-.384, -.141]). In Study 3, relationships between beliefs about emotion malleability and current suicidal ideation were examined among individuals (n=20) currently experiencing elevated symptoms of borderline personality disorder, a disorder characterized by dysregulated negative emotion and elevated suicide risk. Interestingly, in this sample there was a significant interaction between emotion beliefs and negative affect; more malleable views of emotion were significantly associated with higher suicidal ideation at lower levels of negative affect (b=.98, SE=.36, p=.014, CI [.224, 1.75]), but this relationship was not significant at higher levels of negative affect (p=.476). Results addressed a gap in existing emotion belief research by finding significant associations between specific emotion beliefs to current suicidal ideation. Findings also speak to the moderating role of negative affect and how levels of clinical symptoms could play a role in these relationships. Future directions include assessing the possible causal role of emotion beliefs in suicide risk and examining these relationships in other populations who are experiencing elevated clinical symptoms.