Comparison of Personality Traits, Coping Styles, and Psychiatric Disorders in Adult Suicidal and Non-Suicidal Individuals

Background: Suicide is a major health problem accounting for 9% of all deaths. Thus, suicide prevention is of particular importance in high-risk groups. Taking care of the individuals who have committed suicide is also considered as a major problem for health professionals. In general, individuals’ personality and attitude toward problems are involved in the incidence of suicide. Human personality is an integrated but complex phenomenon characterized by its extensiveness and large variety of concepts. The present study aimed to evaluate personality traits and coping styles among suicidal and non-suicidal individuals referring to the hospitals and health centers affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 100 suicidal patients and 100 non-suicidal individuals (mean age: 27.21 years) were randomly selected and matched in terms of demographic variables. All the participants completed Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness (NEO) personality questionnaire, Lazarus coping strategies questionnaire, and SCL-90-R. Then, the data were analyzed using T-test, chi-square test, and stepwise liner regression. Results: The study results showed that the highest scores in the case and control groups were related to neuroticism (32.35±3.21) and conscientiousness (36.87±3.26), respectively (P<0.001). The two groups were also compared with respect to the two main types of coping styles. In both coping styles, the mean scores of the control group were higher than those of the case group although the difference was only significant regarding the problem-focused coping style. Conclusion: The results revealed a significant relationship between coping styles and extroversion as well as nervousness. Nervousness and extraversion scores could predict the coping style. In addition, suicidal individuals obtained higher scores in nervousness and emotion-focused coping style compared to the control group.