Prediction of Suicidal Tendencies Through Impulsivity and Emotion Regulation in Adolescents in Yasuj City, Iran

Suicidal ideation is one of adolescents' major mental health problems. Understanding how to commit suicide and its prediction and prevention are among the major mental health challenges. Suicide could be associated with impulsivity. Today, impulsivity is ideologically conceptualized. In other words, impulsivity is associated with a lack of cognitive inhibition and a decision–making process that is imperfect in individuals. The inability to regulate emotion properly and efficiently seems to be one of the factors influencing suicidal tendencies. Emotional regulation is the internal and external processes responsible for evaluating, modulating, and monitoring emotional reactions to achieve the desired goals. Since the rate of suicide has increased significantly in recent years among young people and adolescents, we investigated the prediction of suicidal ideation based on impulsivity and emotion regulation.

The present study was cross–sectional and correlational. The study's statistical population included all adolescents living in Yasuj City, Iran, in 2020. The study participants included 380 adolescents who were selected using cluster sampling. The inclusion criteria were as follows: being teenagers (12–18 years old), living in Yasuj City, having full consent to participate in the plan, and not using drugs and psychotropic drugs. The exclusion criterion was the incomplete completion of the questionnaires. To collect the data, Beck Suicidal Ideation Scale (Beck et al., 1991), Barrat Impulsiveness Scale (Barrat et al., 1997), and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross, 1999) were used. The Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data using SPSS software version 24 at a significance level of 0.05.

The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed significant negative relationships between impulsivity and suicide (r=–0.56, p<0.001) and emotion regulation and suicide (r=–0.50, p<0.001). In addition, the results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that impulsivity (β=–0.45, p<0.001) and emotion regulation (β=–0.37, p<0.001) significantly predicted the tendency to suicide.

According to the results, adolescents with poor emotion regulation and impulse control skills are more prone to suicide. Conversely, adolescents with emotion regulation and impulse control skills are less prone to suicide. Therefore, studying emotion regulation and impulse control is effective in counseling and treating suicidal ideation.