Associations between psychopathy and suicide: A meta-analytic review.

Abstract

Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide and is often empirically examined in relation to internalizing psychiatric constructs, such as depression, but less commonly in relation to externalizing disorders. The purpose of this preregistered meta-analysis was to explore the relations between suicide-related variables (i.e., ideation, attempts, and self-harm) and psychopathy-a maladaptive personality construct falling under the externalizing umbrella. The results showed small-to-moderate associations between total psychopathy scores and suicidal ideation (r = .19), behavior (r = .12), and self-harm (r = .20). Psychopathy subscales and factor scores varied widely in their correlations with suicide-related variables, highlighting the utility of assessing psychopathy using a more nuanced, trait-based approach. Potential mechanisms underlying these relations and clinical implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).