Raymond Tucker

Associate Professor Louisiana State University

  • Baton Rouge LA

Dr. Tucker’s research is in the area of suicide prevention.

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Louisiana State University

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Biography

Dr. Tucker’s research is in the area of suicide prevention. He is particularly interested in testing theories of why people die by suicide and extend these works to underserved populations. This research has the ultimate goal of informing clinical and public health initiatives. Because help-seeking is a fundamental concern in suicide prevention, Dr. Tucker also researches strategies to increase suicide-related help-seeking behaviors and the experiences of those who interact with suicide prevention interventions.

A parallel area of Dr. Tucker’s research investigates historical and current cultural factors that influence suicide risk and resilience in underrepresented populations. Current work in this area has focused on the impact of minority stressors and gender affirmation medical interventions has on suicidal thinking in transgender/gender diverse (TGD) adults.

For Interested Undergraduate Students: Students can assist in multiple phases of this research, including literature searches, participant recruitment, survey and experiment development, statistical analysis, and dissemination (research posters and publications). Dr. Tucker’s research program is also active in online, campus, and community suicide awareness campaigns.

Areas of Expertise

Suicide Prevention
Lethal-Means Safety
Emotion Dysregulation
Risk Prediction
Suicide Risk Assessment

Media

Media Appearances

No 225 needed: Baton Rouge to keep area code-free dialing, unlike these Louisiana cities

The Advocate  online

2021-03-02

The creation of a three-digit phone number for the suicide prevention hotline should make it easier for people in need of assistance to remember and call the hotline number, particularly in moments of distress, said Raymond Tucker, an assistant professor of psychology at LSU and co-director of the university's National Suicidology Training Center.

"The ability to put this as a 3 digit number, in theory, should make it more accessible to people potentially when they need it the most," Tucker said.

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Research Focus

Suicide Risk & Lethal-Means Safety

Dr. Tucker’s research focuses on suicide risk, emotion dysregulation, and lethal-means safety, aiming to prevent self-harm across military, veteran, and civilian populations. He combines ecological momentary assessment, psychophysiological and behavioral experiments, and community firearm-storage outreach to refine risk prediction and craft evidence-based suicide-prevention strategies.

Accomplishments

Psychotherapy Supervisor of the Year Award, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center

2022

Psychotherapy Supervisor of the Year Award, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center

2020

American Association of Suicidology’s Citizen Scientist

2020

Education

Oklahoma State University

Ph.D.

Clinical Psychology

2017

Lawrence University

B.S.

Psychology

2010

Affiliations

  • Military Suicide Research Consortium (MSRC)
  • Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT)

Articles

A network analysis of social determinants of health and rates of youth suicidal ideation and suicide attempts at the neighborhood-level in Houston, Texas

Death Studies

2025

To identify youth suicide risk factors and possible avenues for intervention, a social-ecological model approach has been encouraged. In considering which youth may think about or attempt suicide, the assessment of social determinants of health (SDOH) appears vital. Utilizing a network analytic approach, this study developed an estimated partial correlation network to examine relationships between youth suicidal ideation/suicide attempts via youth suicide screens (N = 17,018), and SDOH using census tract (N = 608) data indicators of Houston, TX. While most nodes showed connectivity within the network, youth suicidal ideation (M = 19.66, SD = 9.14) and suicide attempt(s) (M = 11.58, SD = 7.53) were disconnected from all nodes, aside from each other (rpartial = 0.54).

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Predicting self‐perceived risk of suicide: A Bayesian multilevel analysis of suicide status form constructs using ambulatory assessment

British Journal of Clinical Psychology

2025

The Collaborative Assessment of Suicidality (CAMS) is an effective clinical framework to treat suicidal thoughts and behaviours. CAMS employs the Suicide Status Form (SSF) to monitor suicide risk factors across sessions. The first six items (termed the SSF Core Assessment) include psychological pain, stress, agitation, hopelessness, self‐hate and self‐reported overall behavioural risk for suicide. The first five are theoretically derived risk factors. While CAMS employs session‐by‐session tracking, no research has investigated how the five risk factors vary together and concurrently and prospectively predict self‐perceived suicide risk when assessed via ambulatory assessment.

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Suicide-related outcomes in a cross-sectional, national sample of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.

Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity

2025

Although high rates of suicide attempts and suicidal ideation are documented among transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive (TNGE) Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC), research regarding the age of onset of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) is limited. This exploratory study aimed to examine the age of onset of STBs and significant differences across demographic characteristics. A sample of 110 TNGE BIPOC who endorsed past-year suicidal ideation was assessed via a national cross-sectional survey. Analysis of variance, nonparametric chi-square, and independent t tests were conducted to compare clinical characteristics across racial-ethnic groups, region, disability status, and sexuality. The majority of participants endorsed lifetime planning (75%), lifetime attempt (60%), and past-month ideation (76.36%)

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Event Appearances

Help-seeking for suicide-related concerns: An overview of experimental investigations and recommendations for improved methodologies

2022 | Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies 56th Annual Convention  New York, NY

Experimental investigations yield an unclear relationship between exposure to suicide attempt storytelling and engagement with suicide prevention resources

2022 | Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies 56th Annual Convention  New York, NY

Personalizing nudges on social media to increase crisis resource engagement.

2022 | Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies 56th Annual Convention  New York, NY