The impact of mental health and community structural characteristics on suicide-related behavior and self-harm among community respondents (original) (raw)

Shaffer, C. S., Blanchard, A. J. E., Fuller, E. K., & Douglas, K. S. (2019, June). The impact of mental health and community structural characteristics on suicide-related behavior and self-harm among community respondents. Paper presented at the 19th Annual International Conference of Forensic Mental Health Services, Montreal, Canada. In this prospective study, we examined the association between three types of mental health symptom clusters (i.e., psychotic, internalizing, and externalizing) and suicide-related behavior (SRB) and self-harm, and whether community disadvantage and residential instability moderated these associations. Psychotic and internalizing, but not externalizing, symptoms were significantly positively associated with SRB and self-harm at 6-month follow-up. Neither community disadvantage nor residential instability moderated the association between mental health symptoms and SRB or self-harm. These findings suggest that mental health can influence the expression of SRB and self-harm irrespective of community context. Implications for treatment and future research are discussed.