Whilst the experience and expression of suicidal behaviour is intensely personal, decades of research also point towards common risk factors characterising suicidal processes.
Risk factor research aims at discovering and documenting correlates that precede suicidal outcomes (longitudinal predictors) and that are associated with heightened risk for suicide and/or self-harm. Identifying individual and environmental risk factors related to socioeconomic status, comorbid somatic and psychiatric ill-health, interpersonal factors, biological markers, or access to suicide methods, aids us in discovering groups at a heightened risk of suicide and modifiable risk factors.
Mapping out different high-risk groups provides practical and clinically relevant information, creating the basis for targeted interventions. Risk factor research can aid in deciphering patterns of heightened vulnerability in individuals that might require a multi-systems intervention approach.
Furthermore, identifying specific constellations of risk factors can reveal patterns that point towards the nature of type of intervention required. Identifying such foci for intervention allows for more effective distribution of treatment and prevention resources. In addition to this, assessing the interaction between various risk factors and protective factors provides important knowledge about mediating and moderating pathways for suicidality.
Key focus areas
- Suicide risk factors in clinical populations - discovering foci for suicide prevention with a systems approach
- Risk factors for suicidal behaviours in immigrant populations
- Biological markers for suicide
- Suicide risk in bereaved parents and offspring