Temperament, character, and suicidality among Croatian war veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

The occurrence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors is rather frequent among war veterans, particularly those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Understanding factors present within these individuals that increase suicide risk may inform prevention efforts. The present study aimed to determine whether the dimensions of temperament and character are associated with various aspects of suicidality among Croatian war veterans with PTSD.

A sample of 72 Croatian male war veterans (mean age 52.33 years) diagnosed with PTSD was gathered at the National Center for Psychotrauma between May and October 2014. The participants completed the Temperament and Character Inventory - Revised (TCI-R) and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire - Revised (SBQ-R).

Zero-order analyses revealed that temperament dimension Harm avoidance and character dimension Self-directedness were moderately associated with the total risk for suicide (i.e., the SBQ-R total score), while Persistence and Cooperativeness showed significant but weaker relations. Different dimensions of suicidality were associated with different personality traits. Harm Avoidance was shown to be significantly increased among the subgroup of war veterans with high suicidal risk.

Notwithstanding some limitations of this study, these findings could help extend our understanding of the elevated suicide risk in war veterans with PTSD. Detection of individuals displaying high Harm Avoidance and low Self-Directedness might facilitate prevention of suicidal behaviors in this population.