Person: Cha, Christine
Loading...
Email Address
AA Acceptance Date
Birth Date
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Job Title
Last Name
Cha
First Name
Christine
Name
Cha, Christine
5 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
Publication Understanding Suicide Risk Within the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Framework: Insights, Challenges, and Future Research Considerations(SAGE Publications, 2017) Glenn, Catherine R.; Cha, Christine; Kleiman, Evan; Nock, MatthewSuicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. Prior research has focused primarily on sociodemographic and psychiatric risk factors with little improvement in the prediction or prevention of suicidal behavior over time. The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) may be an especially useful framework for advancing research in this area. This paper provides a brief and broad overview of research on suicidal behavior relating to each of the RDoC domains—highlighting the RDoC construct(s) where research has focused, construct(s) where research is lacking, and suggestions for future research directions. We also discuss major challenges for suicide research within the RDoC framework, including the intersection of RDoC domains, interaction of domains with the environment, incorporation of developmental stage, integration of distal and proximal processes, and inclusion of suicide-specific constructs. We conclude by underscoring important considerations for future research aimed at using the RDoC framework to study suicidal behavior and other forms of psychopathology.Publication Attentional bias toward suicide-related stimuli predicts suicidal behavior.(American Psychological Association (APA), 2010) Cha, Christine; Najmi, Sadia; Park, Jennifer; Finn, Christine; Nock, MatthewA long-standing challenge for scientific and clinical work on suicidal behavior is that people often are motivated to deny or conceal suicidal thoughts. We proposed that people considering suicide would possess an objectively measurable attentional bias toward suicide-related stimuli, and that this bias would predict future suicidal behavior. Participants were 124 adults presenting to a psychiatric emergency department who were administered a modified emotional Stroop task and followed for six months. Suicide attempters showed an attentional bias toward suicide-related words relative to neutral words, and this bias was strongest among those who had made a more recent attempt. Importantly, this suicide-specific attentional bias predicted which people made a suicide attempt over the next six months, above and beyond other clinical predictors. Attentional bias toward more general negatively-valenced words did not predict any suicide-related outcomes, supporting the specificity of the observed effect. These results suggest that suicide-specific attentional bias can serve as a behavioral marker for suicidal risk, and ultimately improve scientific and clinical work on suicide-related outcomes.Publication Adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury: Examining the role of child abuse, comorbidity, and disinhibition(Elsevier BV, 2014) Auerbach, Randy; Kim, Judy C.; Chango, Joanna M; Spiro, Westley J.; Cha, Christine; Gold, Joseph; Esterman, Michael; Nock, MatthewThe purpose of the study is to examine how several well-known correlates of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) might work together to contribute to the occurrence of this behavior. Specifically, we examined models including child abuse, psychiatric comorbidity, and disinhibition, testing how these factors may work together to lead to NSSI in the past month. Participants (n=194; 144 female; age 13–18 years) were recruited from a short-term, acute adolescent residential unit. Within 48 hours of admission to the hospital participants completed structured clinical interviews assessing mental disorders and patterns of NSSI. Following the interviews, participants completed a self-report questionnaire assessing childhood abuse and a computerized continuous performance task. Consistent with study hypotheses, results revealed that the association between child abuse and NSSI is partially mediated by comorbidity. Although disinhibition is associated with comorbidity, contrary to our hypothesis, disinhibition does not mediate the relation between child abuse and NSSI. Collectively, these findings provide new information about how comorbidity may increase risk for NSSI, and critically, discuss the potential importance of creating targeted programs to reduce the prevalence of child abuse.Publication Clarifying Psychological Risk Factors for Self-Injury and Suicidal Behaviors: Clinical Applications of Behavioral Measures(2015-05-19) Cha, Christine; Nock, Matthew; Hooley, Jill; McNally, Richard; Banaji, MahzarinSelf-injurious thoughts and behaviors are life-threatening, prevalent, and challenging clinical outcomes to predict. This dissertation explores the use of behavioral measures to improve prediction of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal ideation. This builds on the growing body of literature supporting the clinical application of behavioral measures such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and emotional Stroop Task with self-injurious and suicidal individuals. I tackle three questions to inform continued research and application. First, can the Self-Injury IAT be used in acute care settings to predict NSSI? Study 1 shows that the Self-Injury IAT can be used for short-term prediction: it predicted NSSI occurring during hospital stays above and beyond other risk factors, but did not predict NSSI occurring after hospital discharge. Surprisingly, patients’ explicit self-report was a more robust predictor of NSSI than the Self-Injury IAT. Admission-to-discharge change in patients' explicit self-report, but not IAT performance, predicted whether they engaged in NSSI after hospital discharge. Second, how does transient mood affect the predictive validity of the Suicide IAT and Stroop task? In Study 2, suicide ideators demonstrated significantly stronger implicit identification with death after (vs. before) the mood induction, as indicated by post-induction IAT performance. Controlling for history of suicidal ideation, post-induction performance was most predictive of suicidal ideation when assessed categorically (i.e., identification with Death vs. Life). Suicide Stroop performance remained unrelated to suicidal ideation on its own, but enhanced prediction of suicidal ideation when combined with Suicide IAT performance. All baseline suicide ideators who achieved one particular type of IAT/Stroop scoring profile experienced suicidal thoughts six months later. Third, is it safe to administer behavioral measures related to self-injurious thoughts and behaviors? Study 3 reveals that there is minimal change in self-injurious or suicidal urges from before to after completing Suicide and Self-Injury IATs. This was found across three distinct samples. A small to moderate mood decline was consistently detected, which was isolated to female respondents and one type of IAT that presented NSSI-related images. Female participants’ negative mood after viewing NSSI-related images appeared to be transient in nature--possibly be alleviated by viewing positive images. This collection of studies balances clinical application and psychological science, and presents a number of important considerations for future research and practice.Publication Emotional Intelligence is a Protective Factor for Suicidal Behavior(Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2009) Cha, Christine; Nock, MatthewObjective: Little is known about what factors protect against the occurrence of suicide ideation and attempts. We tested whether emotional intelligence (EI)—the ability to perceive, integrate, understand, and manage one’s emotions—decreases the likelihood of suicide ideation and attempts among those at risk. Method: Adolescents (N=54) aged 12-19 were recruited from local psychiatric clinics and the community to participate in this cross-sectional laboratory-based study. Analyses examined whether the relations between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and suicide ideation and attempts were moderated by adolescents’ EI. These constructs were assessed using self-report, structured interviews, and performance-based tests, respectively. Results: Analyses revealed that EI is a protective factor for both suicide ideation and attempts. Specifically, CSA was strongly predictive of these outcomes among those with low EI, weakly predictive among those with medium EI, and completely unrelated among those with high EI. Follow-up analyses revealed that the protective effect of EI was driven primarily by differences in Strategic EI (i.e., ability to understand and manage emotions) but not Experiential EI (i.e., ability to perceive emotions and integrate emotions into thoughts). Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence that EI is a protective factor for suicide ideation and attempts. Important next steps include testing the moderating influence of EI on a wider range of stressful life events and self-injurious behaviors, as well as conducting experimental studies to determine whether enhancing EI decreases the subsequent occurrence of these behavior problems.