Psychopathic Traits in Relation to Suicide Ideation in Male and Female Undergraduate Students: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Previous studies suggested a link between psychopathy and suicide attempt and current suicide ideation among inmate population (Conner, Meldrum, Wieczorek, Duberstein, & Welte, 2004; Douglas, Lilienfeld, Skeem, Poythress, Edens, & Patrick, 2008; Pennington, Cramer, Miller, & Anastasi, 2015). However, this link is less likely focused among students. Present study uses cross-sectional method for data collection. Structural equation models of Levenson’s Self-Report Psychopathy-Revised Urdu Version (LSRPS-RUV, 2018) in relation to suicide ideation were presented and tested to find out a direct relationship between the three dimensions of the scale and suicidal ideation. For this purpose, five latent variables were identified: egocentricity, callous, antisocial factor, and suicidal ideation. Current results revealed that antisocial factor of LSRPS-RUV were significantly positively linked to the current suicidal ideation in total sample. To analyse the gender differences for this relationship, further SEM was estimated for both male and female students separately. Callous factor was significantly negatively related to suicide ideation while antisocial factor was significantly positively related to suicide ideation only in male students. However, no relationship has been found among three factors of LSRPS-RUV and current suicide ideation in female students.