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Trait expectancies are related to several aspects of psychological well-being. Specifically, hope, optimism, and hopelessness have been associated with positive and negative indicators of mental health, including suicidality. In addition to empirical similarities, these constructs also have substantial conceptual and measurement overlap. Moreover, while current literature suggests hope and optimism are unique constructs, the distinctions between hopelessness, hope, and optimism remain unclear. The main goals of the present study were: 1) to identify the best structural conceptualization of hope, optimism, and hopelessness; and 2) to apply this conceptualization to examine how different trait expectancies uniquely predict suicidal ideation. Undergraduate students (N= 456) completed a battery of questionnaires at two time points, two months apart. To achieve the first goal, a series of a priori factor models of hope, optimism, and hopelessness was tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). CFA was also performed to confirm the best factor structure of suicidal ideation. Finally, using results from these CFAs, the differential relationships between trait expectancies and suicidal ideation were examined using latent variable path analysis. Results showed that hope, optimism, and hopelessness are best conceptualized as distinct but related constructs. Results also found that both hope and hopelessness predicted increased suicidal ideation over time; whereas, optimism was not predictive of suicidal ideation. Surprisingly, these results suggest that higher hope may be a risk factor for increased suicidal ideation among undergraduates.

This thesis approaches hopelessness through the work of Deleuze and Guattari, situating their thought in relation to Baruch Spinoza and Brian Massumi. Drawing on Massumi’s theorizing of fear, and Spinoza’s theorizing the link between hope and fear, I argue that hope keeps bodies and politics bound to a future that comes to organize the present. From this perspective, I argue that hopelessness can become an important element of not only undoing the ways that future forces come to organize the present, but can open immanent ways of participating in the organization of emergent forces. The thesis also clarifies the differences between affect and emotion, and the body and the subject. This supports an understanding of politics as the undoing and warding off of hope through attending to hopelessness, and an increase in bodies’ capacities to experiment and participate in the organization of their own desires and situations. / Graduate

A large body of literature exists to show that childhood anxiety and depression are significantly interrelated, both at the disorder and the symptom level. Clark and Watson (1991) proposed that a tripartite model could account for the observed relations between anxiety and depression. The tripartite model holds that while anxiety and depression share a substantial component of general affective distress or negative affectivity (NA), they can be meaningfully differentiated on the basis of specific symptoms. Anhedonia, or low positive affect (PA), is seen as specific to depression, and physiological arousal (PH), or somatic tension, is seen as unique to anxiety. The studies presented in this thesis were designed to investigate the tripartite model of anxiety and depression in children and youth. Although previous studies provide some support for the validity of the tripartite model in children, they have not systematically examined the generalisability of the model across the developmental spectrum. Where age differences have been explored, there is some evidence to suggest that anxiety and depression show greater differentiation across development. Therefore, the first study sought to test unitary, dual, and tripartite models of anxiety and depression in a cross-sectional design, using three distinct age cohorts of non-referred children and youth recruited from grade 3 (mean age 7.74 years), grade 6 (mean age 10.59 years), and grade 9 (mean age 13.52 years). A confirmatory factor analytic strategy was used with selected items from the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale and the Children’s Depression Inventory. The study found little evidence to support the idea of increasing differentiation with age. All models provided a moderate fit to the data, although analyses indicated that a correlated three-factor tripartite model was the preferred model in all age cohorts. These results suggest that the tripartite model may be a clinically useful tool in differentiating between depressive and anxious symptoms and disorders in children of all ages. The second study then sought to examine the predictive utility of the tripartite model, using a subsample of participants from the first study. In line with the tripartite theory, it was anticipated that the dimensions of NA and PA would predict concurrent and future symptoms of hopelessness (depression). Further, it was expected that the dimensions of NA and PH would predict concurrent and future symptoms of panic (anxiety). Self-report symptoms of hopelessness and panic were measured at baseline and again 12 months later. Results revealed some consistencies and inconsistencies with respect to the predictions of the model. In accordance with predictions, results indicated that NA and PA were significant predictors of concurrent symptoms of hopelessness for grade 3 and grade 6 students, but not for grade 9 students. In addition, NA and PH were significant predictors of concurrent symptoms of panic for grade 6 students, but not for grade 3 or grade 9 students. The tripartite dimensions of NA and PA predicted future hopelessness symptoms for grade 6 students only, however the NA and PH dimensions did not predict future symptoms of panic for any students. Methodology of the study is examined in interpreting the obtained results, and limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Despite what is known about predictors of suicide risk and consequences of insomnia, research has yet to delineate mechanisms that may explain the known relationship between insomnia symptoms and suicide risk. There is some disagreement in the literature regarding whether this relationship could be primarily explained by recent depressive symptoms, or whether there may be other explanatory factors related to sleep deficits. The present study addressed this contention in the literature by examining 1) whether socio-cognitive variables (e.g. fatigue, appraised social problem-solving ability, and hopelessness) explained this insomnia-ideation relationship, and 2) whether these variables contributed some explanatory variance in suicide ideation above and beyond that explained by depressive symptoms. Approximately 483 female participants completed an online study survey. Cross-sectional path analyses were conducted in order to examine the initial hypothesized path, as well as whether the path persisted when depression was integrated in the model. Results suggest that the hypothesized socio-cognitive factors related to sleep deficits partially mediate the established insomnia-suicide ideation relationship. And, further, that the socio-cognitive pathway from sleep loss to suicide ideation persists even when accounting for recent depressive symptoms, such that both pathways separately explain some degree of this relationship. These findings have meaningful implications for understanding mechanisms by which insomnia symptoms may confer heightened risk for considering suicide.

Rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviours are heightened amongst prisoners, and present a significant challenge to correctional facilities globally. Despite this, there is a paucity of theoretically driven research examining the factors that underlie suicidality in prisoners. Two theoretical models of suicide, the Cry of Pain model (CoP; Williams, 1997) and the Schematic Appraisals Model of Suicide (SAMS; Johnson, Gooding & Tarrier, 2008) have highlighted the roles of negative appraisals and perceptions of defeat, entrapment, and hopelessness, as key psychological drivers for suicidal thoughts and behaviours. The overarching aim of this thesis was to investigate the psychological mechanisms that underlie suicidal thoughts and behaviours amongst prisoners. A corollary aim was to examine the psychological factors that may confer resilience to suicidal thoughts and behaviours amongst incarcerated individuals. Firstly, a comprehensive narrative review examined evidence of the applicability of current theoretical approaches to suicide, as applied to prisoner samples. The findings of this review highlighted gaps in the literature, from which a number of research questions were developed for investigation in the current thesis. Next, three empirical studies were designed to investigate the roles of perceptions of defeat, entrapment, hopelessness, and negative appraisals in suicidal ideation. In the first of these studies, cross-sectional evidence was obtained that perceptions of internal entrapment and hopelessness were predictive of suicidal ideation amongst prisoners (Chapter 4). In a second study, the predictive effects of defeat, hopelessness, and entrapment were examined in a longitudinal investigation, finding no significant longitudinal relationship (Chapter 7). In a further empirical study, support was provided for the role of momentary negative appraisals of the present and future as proximal predictors of the severity of suicidal thoughts (Chapter 5). Two further studies examined the role of impulsiveness in suicidality, and provided evidence for the deleterious effect of impulsiveness upon both suicidal ideation (Chapter 8) and self-harm ideation (Chapter 9) in prisoners. Two further studies provided the first theoretically driven investigations of potential resilience factors, conceptualized as positive self-appraisals, within a prisoner sample. Based on the Schematic Appraisals Model of Suicide (SAMS), it was proposed that positive self-appraisals would confer resilience against suicidal thoughts and behaviours. Two studies investigated this hypothesis. The first of these studies found that, contrary to predictions, positive self-appraisals of social support and social reciprocity did not buffer the impact of negative situational appraisals upon suicidal thoughts (Chapter 5). In the second study, evidence was obtained for a buffering effect of positive self-appraisals upon suicidal thoughts. In particular, positive appraisals of interpersonal problem-solving were found to buffer the effects of internal entrapment on suicidal thoughts (Chapter 6).Overall, the findings of this thesis serve to further our understanding of the psychological processes underlying the development of, and resilience to, suicidality amongst prisoners. These results underscore the need to empirically examine the applicability and transferability of psychological models of suicide within prisoner populations. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are outlined throughout the thesis.

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No / This paper examines the extent of mental ill-health and probable depression among older people in long-term care. It presents selected findings from a study in Greater Belfast, Northern Ireland, that compared the quality of life, autonomy and mental health of older people living in nursing and residential homes with those of older people living in private households who were receiving domiciliary care. Structured interviews were conducted with 214 residents in institutions and 44 older people receiving domiciliary care. The study found that those in private households were more severely physically-impaired and had a higher level of mental ill-health than the residents of institutional homes. It is suggested, however, that the mental ill-health effects were associated less with physical impairments than with the restrictions placed on the older person's decisional autonomy, and that long-term care environments that constrain the older person's autonomy contribute to the development of depression. Although the UK National Service Framework for Older People specified that those with depression should be given treatment and support, priority should also be given to preventing the depression associated with living in long-term care settings.