title: Neuroanatomical correlates of attitudes toward suicide in a large healthy sample: A voxel-based morphometric analysis.
abstract: Previous studies have indicated that permissive attitudes toward suicide are positively associated with mental illness (e.g., depression and loneliness). Evidence suggests that there are abnormalities in the cognitive and brain functioning of suicidal patients. Nevertheless, there has been no evidence of the correlation between attitudes toward suicide and abnormal brain structure variations in healthy people. Therefore, in this study, we seek to investigate the neuroanatomical differences in healthy participants with regard to attitudes toward suicide. The results show that permissive attitudes toward suicide were significantly correlated with gray matter volume (GMV) in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the left cerebellum in the large sample (n=405), which may be related to inefficient inhibitory control of negative emotion. Then, in a subset of healthy individuals with permissive attitudes (n=113), we also observed that stronger permissive attitudes toward suicide were positively related to the larger GMV in the left DLPFC and the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), which may be associated with sensitivity of emotional feeling. Furthermore, loneliness had a mediating effect on the relation between the DLPFC volume and attitudes toward suicide. Taken together, neuroanatomical differences in healthy participants with permissive attitudes toward suicide may provide a better understanding of permissive attitudes toward suicide as a likely risk factor for suicidal behavior.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Huijuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Yongchao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Dongtao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Junyi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China. Electronic address: qiuj318@swu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017008:Negotiating; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attitudes toward suicide; Magnetic resonance; Voxel-based morphometry (VBM)