Interpersonal Violence and Suicide Risk in Young Adult Indians: Is There Evidence for the Dangerousness of Perfectionism in a Non-WEIRD Population?

Abstract

The present study examined experience of interpersonal violence and perfectionism as predictors of suicide risk (viz., depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation) in a sample of 196 young adult Indian males and females. Results obtained from conducting a set of hierarchical regression analyses indicated several notable patterns. Experience of interpersonal violence was a predictor of both depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Moreover, the inclusion of dimensions of perfectionism (as a set) was also found to consistently predict additional unique variance in depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, even after accounting for experience of interpersonal violence. Importantly, even after controlling for depressive symptoms, experience of interpersonal violence and perfectionism, namely, parental criticism, uniquely accounted for additional variance in suicidal ideation. Overall, our findings based on a non-Western, industrialized, educated, rich, and democratic sample of young adult Indians not only indicate that experience of interpersonal violence is an important predictor of suicide risk but also indicate that perfectionism remains an important predictor of suicide risk.