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Optimistic Explanatory Style and Suicide Attempt in Young Adults

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Abstract

Suicidal behavior, including suicide attempt, may result from maladaptive explanatory patterns for past negative life events, in which a person attributes the causes of stressors to internal, stable and global factors. Conversely, an optimistic explanatory style involves perceiving negative life events as external, transient and specific, and may be related to reduced suicide risk. We examined the association between attributional style and lifetime suicide attempts in 135 college students, covarying age, race and ethnicity. Participants provided informed consent and completed an online survey. An optimistic explanatory style was associated with reduced risk of suicide attempt; this effect persisted in a model controlling for hopelessness and depressive symptoms. The manner in which an individual interprets negative life events may buffer against suicidal behavior. Therapeutic strategies to promote an optimistic explanatory style may be successful in the prevention of suicide.

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Conflict of Interest

Jameson K. Hirsch and Jessica K. Rabon declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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  1. Laboratory of Rural Psychological and Physical Health, Department of Psychology, East Tennessee State University, P.O. Box 70649, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA

    Jameson K. Hirsch & Jessica Kelliher Rabon

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Hirsch, J.K., Rabon, J.K. Optimistic Explanatory Style and Suicide Attempt in Young Adults. Int J Ment Health Addiction 13, 675–686 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-015-9570-1

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