Association Between Current Suicidal Ideation and Personality Traits: Analysis of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 in a Community Mental Health Sample

Background and Objectives: Suicide is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Identi- fying psychopathological factors and personality traits associated with suicidal ideation is crucial for improving prevention. This study investigates the association between current suicidal ideation—measured by item 4 of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale-24 items (BPRS- 24)—and personality traits assessed with the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) in a transdiagnostic outpatient psychiatric population. The association of BPRS-24 item 4 with early traumatic experiences, attachment styles, and dissociative phenomena is also explored as a secondary objective. Materials and Methods: We propose a secondary analysis on a sample of 137 individuals receiving care at an academic community mental health center. Personality traits were assessed using the PID-5, while attachment styles were assessed with the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ERC-R), childhood traumas with the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire (CECA.Q), and disso- ciative experiences with the Dissociative Experience Scale II (DES-II). Suicidal ideation was measured with item 4 of the BPRS-24. Associations were examined using Spearman’s correlation and ordinal logistic regression models, adjusted for age, sex assigned at birth, and global clinical severity (CGI-S). Results: We found statistically significant associations between suicidal ideation and the PID-5 trait of depressivity (OR = 1.80, 95 % CI 1.23–2.63, p = 0.002, p-value adjusted Holm’s method 0.012). However, this association lost signifi- cance after adjusting for depressive symptoms (BPRS-24 item 3), suggesting a mediating role of depression. We found no significant associations with childhood trauma, attach- ment styles, or dissociative experiences. Conclusions: Our findings suggest a potential link between specific personality traits and suicidal ideation, mediated by depressive symp- tomatology. We explore how future studies may evaluate PID-5 as a clinical tool to support the identification of individuals at long-term risk of suicidality or for targeting specific populations for tailored interventions.