Body trust and agitation: Pathways to suicidal thoughts and behaviors

Research has linked agitation and low body trust to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. We investigated a pathway with agitation accounting for the relationship between body trust and suicidality. 511 individuals recruited via MTurk (Study 1) and 167 undergraduate students (62.9% with suicide attempt history) (Study 2) completed measures of study variables. For ideation, the proposed pathway was significant across samples, as was a pathway with agitation predicting and body trust mediating. In Study 1, agitation explained the relationship between body trust and attempt history. In Study 2, neither independent variable was related to attempt history. Results suggest body trust is independently associated with suicidal ideation. Results were discrepant regarding suicide attempt history, necessitating future studies.