Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010;31(6):311-6.
doi: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000045.

The suicidal process and self-esteem

Angus H Thompson  1
Affiliations

The suicidal process and self-esteem

Angus H Thompson. Crisis. 2010.

Abstract

Background: It has not been made clear whether self-esteem is associated with the severity of suicidal behavior.

Aims: To test the association between responses to a self-esteem inventory and levels of suicidal behavior as conceptualized in the notion of the suicide process.

Methods: Questions on the severity of suicidal behavior over the lifespan (death wishes, ideation, plans, and attempts), as well as a self-esteem inventory, were administered to 227 university undergraduates.

Results: A negative relationship was found between the level of suicidality and self-esteem. As hypothesized, there were fewer cases in each succeeding level of seriousness of suicidal behavior. However, nearly all cases from any particular level were contained in the cohort of individuals who had displayed suicidal behavior at a less serious level.

Conclusions: This suggests a possible progression through each of the stages of suicidal behavior, with very few cases showing a level of suicidal behavior that was not associated with a previous, less serious, form. It was hypothesized that early entry into the suicidal process may be indicated by low self-esteem, thus, allowing for a more timely preventive intervention.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles