Exploring the relationship between emotional instability and suicidal ideation: A longitudinal study in adolescents...

This longitudinal study employed Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to investigate the dynamic relationship between emotional instability and suicidal ideation (SI) in adolescents with depression. Thirty adolescents (15 males, 15 females; aged 13-18 years) diagnosed with depression underwent repeated assessments of emotional states and SI using the three-item Suicidal Ideation Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) during hospitalization. Results indicated that state-level positive emotions (e.g., interest, activity) were significantly associated with reduced SI, whereas acute negative emotions (e.g., anxiety, irritability) predicted increased suicidal risk. Notably, daily emotional stability-operationalized as the within-day standard deviation of emotional states-showed no direct correlation with SI. This finding highlights the primacy of momentary emotional fluctuations over trait-like stability in influencing acute suicidal risk. These results underscore the importance of real-time emotion regulation in suicide prevention for adolescent depression. Future research should expand sample sizes and incorporate socio-cultural factors to deepen the understanding of this complex relationship.