| Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States, but efforts to determine mechanisms through which suicide ideation develops have demonstrated inconsistent results. Problems with sleep have been linked to a higher risk of suicide beyond the effects of depression. Deficits in executive function have also been demonstrated by individuals with suicide ideation or attempt histories, as well as poor sleep. However, research findings have been mixed, which may be partly a result of a limited understanding of the effects of affective control on suicide ideation. This inconsistency, paired with a high fatality rate for first suicide attempts, has led to a call for research exploring the development of suicide ideation and its related cognitions to improve prevention efforts. The current study examined the prospective relationship between sleep and suicide-related cognitions (SRCs) through emotion regulation strategies as moderated by executive functioning performances. Additionally, sad affect was induced to explore the impact of affective control on cognitive test performance. Data were collected through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk at baseline and one month later at follow-up. Participants were screened to eliminate those failing attention checks or completing the study multiple times from the same location. Structural equation modeling analyses showed that adaptive emotion regulation strategies significantly mediated the relationship between poor sleep and increased SRCs. The b path was moderated by complex attention shifting. Although sad affect was successfully induced, it did not impact executive function task performance. Clinical implications and directions for future research exploring these complex relationships, identifying those at increased risk for SRCs, and clarifying potential treatment avenues were discussed. |