Investigating the phenotypic and genetic associations between personality traits and suicidal behavior across major mental health diagnoses

Personality traits influence risk for suicidal behavior. We examined phenotype- and genotype-level associations between the Big Five personality traits and suicidal ideation and attempt in major depressive, bipolar and schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia patients (N = 3012) using fixed- and random-effects inverse variance-weighted meta-analyses. Suicidal ideations were more likely to be reported by patients with higher neuroticism and lower extraversion phenotypic scores, but showed no significant association with polygenic load for these personality traits. Our findings provide new insights into the association between personality and suicidal behavior across mental illnesses and suggest that the genetic component of personality traits is unlikely to have strong causal effects on suicidal behavior.

Automated summary

Personality traits have an influence on the risk of suicidal behavior. This study examined the associations between the Big Five personality traits and suicidal ideation and attempts in patients with major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia. The findings suggest that higher neuroticism and lower extraversion scores are associated with a higher likelihood of reporting suicidal ideation, but there is no significant genetic association with polygenic load for these personality traits. This study provides new insights into the link between personality and suicidal behavior across different mental illnesses.