Incremental effects of betrayal trauma and borderline personality disorder symptoms on suicide risk.

OBJECTIVE

Suicide is a problem on college campuses. One of the strongest predictors of suicide risk is symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Additional factors, such as trauma, also increase risk for suicide. One type of trauma that is especially insidious is 1 in which people are betrayed by others on whom they depend for support or protection (betrayal traumas). However, there is little research on the incremental effects of BPD symptoms and trauma with varying degrees of betrayal on suicide risk.

METHOD: In this study, we examined the relative effects of BPD symptoms and traumatic experiences with varying degrees of betrayal on suicide risk in a sample of college students (N = 915) using a Bayesian approach to multiple linear regression.

RESULTS

Results suggest that BPD symptoms and traumas with high and medium degrees of betrayal have incremental effects on suicide risk, although this effect differs by sex.

CONCLUSION

These findings highlight the utility of assessing history of trauma over and above BPD symptoms in the prediction of suicide risk and have implications for future research and clinical intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).