Childhood trauma and suicidal behavior risk: perceived burdensomeness and negative emotional reactivity in a...

Childhood traumatic experiences are associated with a wide range of psychological difficulties in adulthood and have also been associated with an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. However, the interpersonal and emotional factors that may be relevant to the association between childhood trauma and suicidal behavior risk remain insufficiently understood. Grounded in the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide, this cross-sectional study examined perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness as parallel interpersonal factors linking childhood trauma to suicidal behavior risk. It further examined whether the association between these interpersonal factors and suicidal behavior risk differed according to levels of negative emotional reactivity.

Participants were 340 community adults in Turkey aged 18-63 years (M = 23.43, SD = 5.83) who completed an anonymous online survey including self-report measures of childhood trauma, interpersonal vulnerability factors, negative emotional reactivity, and suicidal behavior risk. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and a parallel conditional indirect association model were tested, controlling for age and gender.

Childhood trauma was positively associated with suicidal behavior risk, perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and negative emotional reactivity. When both interpersonal variables were examined simultaneously, only perceived burdensomeness was significantly associated with suicidal behavior risk. Negative emotional reactivity moderated the perceived burdensomeness-suicidal behavior risk association, with the association being stronger at mean and high levels of negative emotional reactivity. The corresponding statistical indirect association through perceived burdensomeness was significant at mean and high, but not low, levels of negative emotional reactivity. The indirect association through thwarted belongingness was not significant.

Perceived burdensomeness emerged as the most relevant interpersonal correlate of suicidal behavior risk in the context of childhood trauma, particularly among individuals with elevated negative emotional reactivity. Given the cross-sectional self-report design, the results should be interpreted as conditional statistical associations rather than evidence of temporal or causal pathways. These findings highlight the importance of considering interpersonal and emotional vulnerability factors together when examining suicidal behavior risk among individuals with childhood trauma histories.