A previous study by Nock et al. (2010) suggested that people’s implicit identification with “death” or “suicide” can accurately predict whether they will attempt suicide several months in advance. We report the first direct and independent replication of this promising finding. Participants were 165 patients seeking treatment at a psychiatric unit in France. At baseline, patients completed the Suicide–Implicit Association Test (S–IAT), a semistructured interview, and a self-report measure of suicide ideation. Six months later, we contacted participants by phone and examined their hospital medical records to determine whether they had made a new suicide attempt. Results showed that the S–IAT did not distinguish between patients who were admitted to the hospital following suicide attempts and those who were admitted for other reasons. As in the original study, however, the S–IAT predicted suicide attempts within the 6-month follow-up period beyond well-known predictors. The test correctly classified 85% of patients (95% confidence interval = [76.91, 91.53]), supporting its diagnostic value for identifying who will make a suicide attempt.

References

Barnes, S. M., Bahraini, N. H., Forster, J. E., Stearns-Yoder, K. A., Hostetter, T. A., Smith, G., . . . Nock, M. K. ( 2017 ). Moving beyond self-report: Implicit associations about death/life prospectively predict suicidal behavior among veterans . Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 47, 67 – 77 . doi:10.1111/sltb.12265

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Beck, A. T., Kovacs, M., Weissman, A. ( 1979 ). Assessment of suicidal intention: The scale for suicide ideation . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 343 – 352 . doi:10.1037/0022-006X.47.2.343

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Carter, G., Milner, A., McGill, K., Pirkis, J., Kapur, N., Spittal, M. J. ( 2017 ). Predicting suicidal behaviours using clinical instruments: Systematic review and meta-analysis of positive predictive values for risk scales . The British Journal of Psychiatry, 210, 387 – 395 . doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.116.182717

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Chiurliza, B., Hagan, C. R., Rogers, M. L., Podlogar, M. C., Hom, M. A., Stanley, I. H., Joiner, T. E. ( 2018 ). Implicit measures of suicide risk in a military sample . Assessment, 25, 667 – 676 . doi:10.1177/1073191116676363

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Faure, R., Righetti, F., Seibel, M., Hofmann, W. ( 2018 ). Speech is silver, nonverbal behavior is gold: How implicit partner evaluations affect dyadic interactions in close relationships . Psychological Science, 29, 1731 – 1741 . doi:10.1177/0956797618785899

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Fazio, R. H. ( 1990 ). Multiple processes by which attitudes guide behavior: The MODE model as an integrative framework . In Zanna, M. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 23, pp. 75 – 109 ). San Diego, CA : Academic Press .

Google Scholar Crossref

Fleiss, J. L. ( 1981 ). Statistical methods for rates and proportions ( 1st ed .). London, England : John Wiley .

Google Scholar

Franklin, J. C., Ribeiro, J. D., Fox, K. R., Bentley, K. H., Kleiman, E. M., Huang, X., . . . Nock, M. K. ( 2017 ). Risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors: A meta-analysis of 50 years of research . Psychological Bulletin, 143, 187 – 232 . doi:10.1037/bul0000084

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Glenn, C. R., Kleiman, E. M., Cha, C. B., Nock, M. K., Prinstein, M. J. ( 2016 ). Implicit cognition about self-injury predicts actual self-injurious behaviors: Results from a longitudinal study of adolescents . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57, 805 – 813 . doi:10.1111/jcpp.12500

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Glenn, C. R., Kleiman, E. M., Coppersmith, D. D. L., Santee, A. C., Esposito, E. C., Cha, C. B., . . . Auerbach, R. P. ( 2017 ). Implicit identification with death predicts change in suicide ideation during psychiatric treatment in adolescents . Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58, 1319 – 1329 . doi:10.1111/jcpp.12769

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Glenn, J. J., Werntz, A. J., Slama, S. J., Steinman, S. A., Teachman, B. A., Nock, M. K. ( 2017 ). Suicide and self-injury-related implicit cognition: A large-scale examination and replication . Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126, 199 – 211 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Greenwald, A. G., Nosek, B. A., Banaji, M. R. ( 2003 ). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: I. An improved scoring algorithm . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 197 – 216 . doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.197

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Greenwald, A. G., Poehlman, T. A., Uhlmann, E. L., Banaji, M. R. ( 2009 ). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: III. A meta-analysis of predictive validity . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 17 – 41 . doi:10.1037/a0015575

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Harrison, D. P., Stritzke, W. G. K., Fay, N., Hudaib, A.-R. ( 2018 ). Suicide risk assessment: Trust an implicit probe or listen to the patient? Psychological Assessment, 30, 1317 – 1329 . doi:10.1037/pas0000577

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Ioannidis, J. P. A. ( 2005 ). Why most published research findings are false . PLOS Medicine, 2(8), Article e124. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

JASP Team . ( 2018 ). JASP (Version 0.9) [Computer software] . Retrieved from https://jasp-stats.org/download/

Google Scholar

John, L. K., Loewenstein, G., Prelec, D. ( 2012 ). Measuring the prevalence of questionable research practices with incentives for truth telling . Psychological Science, 23, 524 – 532 . doi:10.1177/0956797611430953

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Jost, J. T. ( 2018 ). The IAT is dead, long live the IAT: Context-sensitive measures of implicit attitudes are indispensable to social and political psychology . Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28, 10 – 19 . doi:10.1177/0963721418797309

Google Scholar SAGE Journals

Klein, R. A., Vianello, M., Hasselman, F., Adams, B. G., Adams, R. B., Alper, S., . . . Nosek, B. A. ( 2018 ). Many Labs 2: Investigating variation in replicability across samples and settings . Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 1, 443 – 490 . doi:10.1177/2515245918810225

Google Scholar SAGE Journals

Kurdi, B., Seitchik, A. E., Axt, J., Carroll, T., Karapetyan, A., Kaushik, N., . . . Banaji, M. R. ( 2019 ). Relationship between the Implicit Association Test and intergroup behavior: A meta-analysis . American Psychologist, 74, 569 – 586 . doi:10.1037/amp0000364

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Landis, J. R., Koch, G. G. ( 1977 ). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data . Biometrics, 33, 159 – 174 . doi:10.2307/2529310

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Makell, M. C., Plucker, J. A., Hegarty, B. ( 2012 ). Replications in psychology research: How often do they really occur? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 537 – 542 . doi:10.1177/1745691612460688

Google Scholar SAGE Journals

Maxwell, S. E., Lau, M. Y., Howard, G. S. ( 2015 ). Is psychology suffering from a replication crisis? What does “failure to replicate” really mean? American Psychologist, 70, 487 – 498 . doi:10.1037/a0039400

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Nock, M. K., Banaji, M. R. ( 2007 ). Prediction of suicide ideation and attempts among adolescents using a brief performance-based test . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75, 707 – 715 . doi:10.1037/0022-006X.75.5.707

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Nock, M. K., Holmberg, E. B., Photos, V. I., Michel, B. D. ( 2007 ). Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview: Development, reliability, and validity in an adolescent sample . Psychological Assessment, 19, 309 – 317 . doi:10.1037/1040-3590.19.3.309

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Nock, M. K., Park, J. M., Finn, C. T., Deliberto, T. L., Dour, H. J., Banaji, M. R. ( 2010 ). Measuring the suicidal mind: Implicit cognition predicts suicidal behavior . Psychological Science, 21, 511 – 517 . doi:10.1177/0956797610364762

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Open Science Collaboration . ( 2015 ). Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science . Science, 349(6251), Article aac4716. doi:10.1126/science.aac4716

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Osborne, J. W., Overbay, A. ( 2004 ). The power of outliers (and why researchers should ALWAYS check for them) . Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 9(6). Retrieved from https://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=9&n=6

Google Scholar

Pashler, H., Wagenmakers, E.-J. ( 2012 ). Editors’ introduction to the special section on replicability in psychological science: A crisis of confidence? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 528 – 530 . doi:10.1177/1745691612465253

Google Scholar SAGE Journals

Randall, J. R., Rowe, B. H., Dong, K. A., Nock, M. K., Colman, I. ( 2013 ). Assessment of self-harm risk using implicit thoughts . Psychological Assessment, 25, 714 – 721 . doi:10.1037/a0032391

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Roland, N., Mierop, A., Frenay, M., Corneille, O. ( 2018 ). Field-identification IAT predicts students’ academic persistence over and above theory of planned behavior constructs . Frontline Learning Research, 6(1), 19 – 30 . doi:10.14786/flr.v6i1.327

Google Scholar Crossref

Rosenthal, R. ( 1979 ). The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results . Psychological Bulletin, 86, 638 – 641 . doi:10.1037/0033-2909.86.3.638

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Serra, W., Chatard, A., Tello, N., Harika-Germaneau, G., Noël, X., Jaafari, N. ( 2019 ). Mummy, daddy, and addiction: Implicit insecure attachment is associated with substance use in college students . Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 27, 522 – 529 . doi:10.1037/pha0000266

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Sheehan, D. V., Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, K. H., Amorim, P., Janavs, J., Weiller, E., . . . Dunbar, G. C. ( 1998 ). The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): The development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10 . The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59( Suppl. 20 ), 22 – 33 .

Google Scholar Medline | ISI

Simmons, J. P., Nelson, L. D., Simonsohn, U. ( 2011 ). False-positive psychology: Undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant . Psychological Science, 22, 1359 – 1366 . doi:10.1177/0956797611417632

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Simons, D. J. ( 2014 ). The value of direct replication . Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9, 76 – 80 . doi:10.1177/1745691613514755

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Tackett, J. L., Lilienfeld, S. O., Patrick, C. J., Johnson, S. L., Krueger, R. F., Miller, J. D., . . . Shrout, P. E. ( 2017 ). It’s time to broaden the replicability conversation: Thoughts for and from clinical psychological science . Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12, 742 – 756 . doi:10.1177/1745691617690042

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Thabane, L., Mbuagbaw, L., Zhang, S., Samaan, Z., Marcucci, M., Thabane, M., . . . Goldsmith, C. H. ( 2013 ). A tutorial on sensitivity analyses in clinical trials: The what, why, when and how . BMC Medical Research Methodology, 16, 13 – 92 . doi:10.1186/1471-2288-13-92

Google Scholar Crossref

Vaiva, G., Ducrocq, F., Meyer, P., Mathieu, D., Philippe, A., Libersa, C., . . . Goudemand, M. ( 2006 ). Effect of telephone contact on further suicide attempts in patients discharged from an emergency department: Randomised controlled study . British Medical Journal, 332, 1241 – 1245 . doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7552.1241

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Woodford, R., Spittal, M. J., Milner, A., McGill, K., Kapur, N., Pirkis, J., . . . Carter, G. ( 2019 ). Accuracy of clinician predictions of future self-harm: A systematic review and meta-analysis of predictive studies . Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 49(1), 23 – 40 . doi:10.1111/sltb.12395

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline