Role of the Big Five Personality Traits in Chemical Suicide Attempt

Objective: Suicide is a major public health problem with little information about the role of&nbsp;personality characteristics of people who chemically commit suicide. The present study aimed&nbsp;to investigate the role of personality traits in the chemical suicide attempters. Methods: In a case-control study, 100 patients with attempted suicide selected by convenience&nbsp;sampling were compared to 100 normal subjects as a control group selected by consecutive&nbsp;sampling in terms of personality traits using short form 5-factor questionnaire of NEO. Results: Suicide attempters got significantly higher scores in neuroticism and also lower&nbsp;scores in extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (P<0.01) compared to&nbsp;normal individuals. Interaction effects of group membership by sex revealed that male suicide&nbsp;attempters had always higher neuroticism levels and lower extraversion and openness (P<0.05) compared to the other sex group. Conclusion: The findings accurately identified the basic personality dimensions influencing&nbsp;the antisocial phenomenon and provided approaches for prevention and treatment of suicide&nbsp;attempters.