Measuring the Impacts of Disordered Eating Behaviors on Acquired Capability for Suicide and Suicide Risk Within an Ideation To Action Framework
Abstract
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2018) reports that between 1999 and 2016, suicide rates in the United States rose nearly 30%. Eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa, are robustly correlated with suicidal behavior, with suicide attempts occurring in approximately 3–20% of patients with anorexia nervosa and in 25–35% of patients with bulimia nervosa (Franko & Keel, 2006). Utilizing Joiner’s (2005) interpersonal theory of suicide, which theorizes that provocative events (PPEs) that can lead to a high acquired capability for suicide (ACS), increasing the risk of lethal suicide attempts, I explored whether disordered eating behaviors can be understood as PPEs. Utilizing regression analyses, I found little evidence that disordered eating impacts ACS or ACS’s association with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Disordered eating was not found to be a moderator of the relationship between ACS and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. However, the conditional effects for high and medium levels of disordered eating were significant. This study inspired many future directions for studies on this topic including the impacts of cultural differences and dissociative experiences.
Subject Area
Clinical psychology|Psychology
Recommended Citation
Luks, Kelsey L, "Measuring the Impacts of Disordered Eating Behaviors on Acquired Capability for Suicide and Suicide Risk Within an Ideation To Action Framework" (2020). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI28089971.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI28089971
