Background: Despite voluminous research on the role of hopelessness and depression in suicidality, a systematic examination of various causal models pertaining to these variables is conspicuous in its absence.
Method: The directions of relationships between the three variables were examined by means of a prospective-longitudinal, cross-lagged, three-wave design in a severely suicidal young adults.
Results: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses revealed synchronous, but not longitudinal, associations between hopelessness, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation.
Conclusions: In severely suicidal young adults, the three clinical constructs appear to constitute a single depressive syndrome.