Exploring risk-taking behaviours as potential warning signs for suicide in adults

Objective: To increase knowledge about risk-taking behaviours as risk factors and potential warning signs for suicide in adults. Engaging in risky behaviour is an identified warning sign for suicide in adolescents, however has not yet been well researched in adults. Method: An anonymous sample of 713 Internet users (77.1% female; 78.5% Caucasian aged from 18 to 71) completed a 20-30 minute anonymous online survey measuring five domains of risk perceptions and behaviours using The Domain-Specific Risk-Taking (Adult) Scale (DOSPERT; see Appendix B). The Suicide Behaviours Questionnaire – Revised (SBQ-R; see Appendix C) was used to group participants as suicide-risk or non-suicidal. 401 participants were identified as suicide-risk. Analyses investigated group differences in risk perceptions and behaviours in suicide-risk and non-suicidal participants. Risk behaviour differences were also examined for participants who scored highly on an SBQ-R item relating to future suicidal intent, in order to identify potential proximal warning signs. Results: Behavioural and/or perceptual differences were found between suicide-risk and non-suicidal participants across all risk five domains. Potential proximal warning signs included engaging in extra-marital affairs, driving a car without a seatbelt and walking home alone at night in an unsafe area. Conclusions: The implications of these findings are far-reaching in terms of their clinical utility; clinicians and gatekeepers can be alerted to a new range of risk factors and warning signs to indicate a distal or proximal suicide risk. Definite differences were found in risk behaviours between suicide-risk and non-suicidal adults, indicating that risk-taking is important risk factor for suicide beyond adolescence.