Prediction of Suicide Ideation Based on the Attentional Bias in Clinical and Non-clinical Populations

Objectives This study aimed to predict the suicide ideation based on the attentional bias in clinical and non-clinical populations. Methods Participants were 120 individuals (77 women and 43 men, age range 18-40 years) who were purposively selected and divided into three groups of clinical-suicidal (n=40), clinical non-suicidal (n=40) and non-clinical (n=40). They were measured by Suicide Stroop Test and Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS). Three indices of attentional bias including reaction time, time interference and interference ratio were calculated and the data were analyzed using paired-samples t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression analysis at the 95% confidence level. Results There was no significant difference in the mean reaction time means between all types of Stroop test (positive emotional, negative emotional, and suicide) in comparison with the neutral Stroop (P<0.05). Suicide ideation was significantly correlated with the overall reaction time in the positive emotional Stroop (r=0.32, P<0.001), negative emotional Stroop (r=0.27, P<0.01), suicide Stroop (r=0.28, P<0.01) and with the interference time of the non-clinical group in the suicide Stroop (r=0.33, P<0.05). In other cases, the relationships between variables were not statistically significant (P>0.05). Regression analysis based on the overall mean scores showed that age (beta=-0.225), gender (beta=0.223), clinical conditions (beta=0.224) and recent suicide attempt (beta=0.424) explaining 44% of the variances, were significant predcitors of suicide ideation, while the attentional bias indices failed to play any significant role in predicting suicide ideation (P>0.05). Conclusion It seems that the incidence of attentional bias towards suicide-related information is not related to clinical conditions, and the relationship between attentional bias and suicide ideation does not follow a certain pattern. Factors such as age, gender, clinical status, and past suicidal behaviors are important predictors of suicide ideation, but attentional bias indicators cannot predict suicide ideation.