The Role of Affective Temperament and Character Traits in Predicting Suicidality in Depressed Patients

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship of affective temperaments and personality traits with suicide attempts in patients suffering from depression. A total of 251 patients diagnosed with recurrent depressive disorder or major depression episode were divided in groups with previous suicide attempts (n = 168) and without such attempts (n = 83) and given a sociodemographic questionnaire, TEMPS-A, and a personality questionnaire, VP+2-70. In all temperaments other than hyperthymic, higher scores were predominant in the group of patients with previous suicide attempts. The model including affective temperaments and personality traits successfully classified 72.5% of cases. Only depressive temperament was found to be a significant positive predictor with negative valence close to statistical significance. The cross-sectional design limits our ability to draw conclusions about causality and current affective status of the patients was not controlled for. However, our findings further prove the importance of affective temperament as a screening tool for suicide risk in depressed patients.

Keywords

• suicide
• depression
• affective temperament
• character traits
• risk assessment