Description

Those who have encountered adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are at higher risk of attempting suicide and having suicidal thoughts (Benckowski et al., 2020; Cluver et al., 2015; Fuller-Thomson et al., 2016). Furthermore, those who experience suicidal ideation are more likely to have an insecure attachment (anxious and avoidant) when compared to those without suicidal thoughts (Lessard & Moretti, 1998; Sheftall et al., 2014), and those with secure attachments report little to no suicidality (Lessard & Moretti, 1998). There is limited research on how suicidal ideation manifests within those who have experienced an ACE and who have an insecure attachment style, compared to their securely attached counterparts, despite many studies looking at these topics separately. We hypothesized that attachment style would impact suicidal ideation. Specifically, having an insecure attachment would be related to higher suicidality within our sample. Participants (n = 282) answered an online survey via Qualtrics using questions from the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Questionnaire, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Revised (ECR), and question #9 from the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). A One-Way ANOVA showed a significant effect of attachment style on suicidal ideation, F(2,279) = 4.972, p = .008. A Tukey posthoc test displayed that the likelihood to experience suicidal thoughts was higher among participants with an anxious attachment style (M = .46, p = .005) compared to individuals with secure (M = .16) and avoidant attachment styles (M = .39, p = .654). A Fisher's Exact test was also conducted and showed that among those who have experienced an ACE, there was a significant association between suicidal ideation and attachment styles (p < .001). In this sample, 31.9% reported experiencing suicidal ideation (passive and active). Additionally, it revealed that those with an anxious attachment style had the highest thoughts of suicidal ideation with intent (4.4%) and without (35.3%) compared to participants with a secure attachment (3.3%; 6.6%) and an avoidant attachment (2.4%; 32.9%). These results partially support our hypothesis, as we found that only those with anxious attachment, and not an avoidant attachment, experienced more suicidal ideation than those who were securely attached.