Examining Time Perspective Orientation in Suicide Ideation and Suicide Attempts

Introduction: Time perspective orientation (TPO) refers to the way an individual psychologically and behaviorally connects to temporal concepts of past, present, and future. Previous studies have hypothesized that certain types of time perspectives, such as a negative orientation towards the past, predict negative psychological functioning and outcomes, including suicide risk. The current study examines whether differences in TPOs are linked to suicidal thoughts or suicidal acts using two measures of time perspective. Methods: We recruited a large online U.S.-based sample comprised of three groups: participants with (a) a history of suicide attempts (attempters; n = 107), (b) a history of suicide ideation but no history of attempts (ideators; n = 164), and (c) no history of ideation or attempts (nonsuicidal; n = 194). Results: A Positive Past (d = 0.71) and Negative Past (d = 0.89) orientation yielded large differences between individuals with a history of suicide ideation and nonsuicidal participants, where Positive Past was elevated among nonsuicidal participants and Negative Past among ideators. These differences were not accounted for by depression or anxiety. However, TPO differences between individuals with a history of suicide ideation and individuals with a history of attempts ranged from negligible to small (d range = 0.03—0.33). Discussion: The findings suggest that time perspective may be robustly associated with the development of suicide ideation, but only minimally related to suicide attempts among ideators.