Grateful individuals are not suicidal: Buffering risks associated with hopelessness and depressive symptoms

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• 作者：Evan M. Kleiman ; Leah M. Adams ; Todd B. Kashdan ; John H. Riskind
• 关键词：Gratitude ; Suicide ; Hopelessness ; Depression ; Protective factors
• 刊名：Personality and Individual Differences
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：September, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：55
• 期：5
• 页码：595-599
• 全文大小：346 K

文摘

With suicidal behavior serving as a leading cause of injury and death around the world, researchers must expand ongoing efforts to uncover protective factors. In this study, we examined if gratitude mitigated existing risk factors for suicide. Specifically, we predicted that gratitude moderates the relationship between suicidal ideation and (a) hopelessness and (b) depressive symptoms in a sample of 369 diverse undergraduate students. Results indicate that for people who are highly grateful, both hopelessness and depressive symptoms are less likely to be associated with thoughts and intentions to kill oneself. The findings demonstrate the value of integrating protective factors against suicidality, including character strengths such as gratitude, into existing theories that tend to be limited to vulnerability factors. We offer tentative ideas for enhancing the impact of suicide prevention and intervention programs by directly addressing gratitude, which has been shown to be highly modifiable.