The Relations of Temperament and Emotion Self-Regulation With Suicidal Behaviors in a Clinical Sample of Depressed Children in Hungary

The authors investigated whether aspects of temperament & self-regulation of dysphoria represent risk factors for DSM-IV suicidality in depressed youth. Using a sample of 407 Hungarian youth (age 7-14 years) with major depressive disorder two hypotheses regarding temperament & suicidality were tested. Multivariate models failed to confirm the hypothesized relations of negative trait emotionality & suicidality but confirmed that high maladapative & low adaptive emotion regulation response tendencies increased the odds of suicidal behaviours above & beyond the risk posed by depressive illness severity. Practical implications of the findings are discussed. (79 refs.)