On the relationship between intuition and self-aggression as a possible marker of suicidality

The relationship between intuition and self-aggression, which can be expressed in self-harm and suicide, has not been studied much, while Russia currently ranks second in suicides in the world, and intuition has a major impact on decision-making and behaviour. Aim. The paper aims to study the relationship between intuition and self-aggression as a correlate of potential to suicidal activity among socially adapted respondents. Materials and methods. 72 people participated in the study, 48 females and 24 males, with the mean age of 20 years. The sample consisted of university students and teachers. The following questionnaires were used: Types of aggressiveness by L. Pochechut and Test for empathic abilities by V. Boyko. These questionnaires contain self-aggression and an intuitive channel of empathy scales and, thus, reflect various aspects of intuition. The following statistical methods were also used: descriptive statistics, Kendall correlation analysis, Mann-Whitney criterion, K-means method of cluster analysis, χ2 Pearson test. Results. Over the entire sample, the correlation between self-aggression and intuition was close to zero. However, when the sample was divided by the parameters of intuition and self-aggression using the K-means method, highly differentiated types were identified: 62.5 % of the subjects were characterized by increased self-aggression and decreased intuition, 37.5 % - by low self-aggression and average intuition. Members of the first cluster also had a significantly higher overall and emotional aggression, as well as lower penetrating ability of empathy. There were no significant gender and age differences between the clusters. Conclusion. Thus, the types that were highly differentiated by absolute differences and statistical significance were detected as those characterized by: 1) increased self-aggression and decreased intuition, 2) low self-aggression and average intuition.