Multidimensional assessments of impulsivity in subjects with history of suicidal attempts

This study aimed to examine whether subjects with history of suicidal attempts had higher impulsivity as measured by neurocognitive tests and self-report questionnaires. The interrelationships among different impulsivity measures were also explored.

Fifty-four nonpsychotic psychiatric inpatients, including 24 subjects with previous history of suicidal attempts and 30 comparison subjects without previous suicidal attempts, completed the self-report Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11-Chinese version (BIS-11-CH) and 2 neuropsychologic tests of impulsivity: the immediate memory task/delayed memory task (IMT/DMT) and the single key impulsivity paradigm (SKIP).

The results indicated that subjects with previous suicidal attempts exhibited higher BIS-11-CH factor 2 (lack of self-control/attentional impulsivity) subscore (P = .02) and more commission errors in IMT (P = .03). However, BIS-11-CH scores and performance indices of IMT/DMT and of SKIP did not correlate with each other.

Our findings supported that subjects with previous suicidal attempts had higher impulsivity, which could be revealed by both self-report and neurocognitive measures. However, there is no correlation among self-report, IMT/DMT, and SKIP measures, indicating that they might be measuring different dimensions of impulsivity.