# Multimodal Assessment of Near-term Risk Processes for Suicide Ideation and Behavior

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2020 · $702,056

## Abstract

Abstract/Project Summary
 The suicide rate among young adults aged 18-25 has risen to the highest level in more than 30 years, yet
our ability to accurately predict suicide attempts remains limited to distal, static risk factors. There is an urgent
need for research to identify ways to assess who is most at risk for suicide in the near future, consistent with
Aspirational Goal 3 of the National Action Alliance’s Prioritized Research Agenda. Accordingly, the overarching
goal of this R01 from an Early Stage Investigator is to improve our ability to identify specific near-term,
dynamic within-person processes that predict acute increases in a vulnerable individual’s risk for suicide.
Social processes related to affiliation and attachment (e.g., social rejection or exclusion), as well as painful and
provocative events (PPE; e.g., violent trauma and self-injury), are well-known distal risk factors for suicide.
However, the role of dynamic cognitive-affective and biological responses to experiences of rejection for
predicting near-term suicide risk in any individual is poorly understood. In addition, it is not known how the
influence of rejection-related processes on near-term suicide risk may vary as a function of distal risk factors
such as exposure to PPE. The current application outlines a multimethod intensive longitudinal study to
examine dynamic affective and physiological responses to rejection as near-term risk factors for temporal
fluctuations in suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) over the course of hours to days, weeks, and months. We
will also examine exposure to PPE as a moderator that amplifies intraindividual reactivity to social rejection,
thereby further increasing suicide risk. Participants will include a diagnostically diverse clinical sample of 150
young adult men and women (ages 18 to 35) with clinically significant STB in the past 4 months. Multimodal
assessments at baseline will include a 21-day random and event-based ecological momentary assessment
(EMA) protocol; laboratory paradigms with psychophysiological measures, self-reports, and assessment of
implicit suicide-related cognition; and interviews using timeline follow-back (TLFB) methods. Assessments at
4-month intervals over the course of 12 months will include repeated laboratory tasks, physiological and
implicit assessments, self-reports, and TLFB interviews to assess changes in responses to rejection, PPE, and
STB over time. The proposed project has three specific aims: (1) Examine multimodal measures of within-
individual affective and physiological responses to rejection as near-term, prospective predictors of within-
person fluctuations in STB over time; (2) Examine exposure to PPE as between-persons distal moderators of
within-person processes leading to near-term increases in STB at the individual level; and (3) Apply machine
learning techniques to identify combinations of multiple time-varying within-person processes and static
between-person differences that ar...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9844975
- **Project number:** 5R01MH115922-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Lori N Scott
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $702,056
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-01-05 → 2023-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9844975

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9844975, Multimodal Assessment of Near-term Risk Processes for Suicide Ideation and Behavior (5R01MH115922-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9844975. Licensed CC0.

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