Hopelessness and suicidal urges in daily life: An ambulatory assessment study in individuals with borderline personality disorder.

Suicidal crises are common among individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD), yet their short-term dynamics remain insufficiently understood. Hopelessness is a key proximal risk factor for suicidal ideation and behavior, but it remains unclear how momentary cognitive hopelessness is linked to acute suicidal urges in everyday life and whether this association is moderated by lifetime severity of rapid-onset suicidal crises sensu acute suicidal affective disturbance. To address these questions, N = 231 treatment-seeking individuals with BPD completed up to 13 smartphone-based assessments per day over 4 consecutive days, assessing momentary suicidal urges, cognitive hopelessness, and negative affect. Results revealed that suicidal urges were infrequent but varied substantially between and within individuals. Momentary within-person increases in cognitive hopelessness were significantly associated with higher suicidal urge intensity, even after controlling for previous suicidal urges, negative affect, age, and gender. Lagged cognitive hopelessness showed no robust predictive effect, and lifetime severity of rapid-onset suicidal crises did not moderate the association between momentary cognitive hopelessness and suicidal urges. Overall, momentary cognitive hopelessness emerged as a dynamic proximal correlate of suicidal urges in individuals with BPD. These findings support real-time, person-centered approaches to suicide prevention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).