What Differentiates Prisoners Who Attempt Suicide from Those Who Experience Suicidal Ideation? A Nationally Representative Study.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Many people who think about suicide do not engage in suicidal behavior. Identifying risk factors implicated in the process of behavioral enaction is crucial for suicide prevention, particularly in high-risk groups such as prisoners. METHOD: Cross-sectional data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of 17,891 prisoners (79% men) in the United States. We compared prisoners who attempted suicide (attempters; n = 2,496) with those who thought about suicide but never made an attempt (ideators; n = 1,716) on a range of established risk factors. RESULTS: More than half (59%) of participants who experienced suicidal ideation had also attempted suicide. Violent offending, trauma, brain injury, alcohol abuse, and certain mental disorders distinguished attempters from ideators. CONCLUSION: Our results fit within recent ideation-to-action theories that emphasize the role of a capability for suicide in the transition from thoughts to acts of suicide.