METHOD: The present study examined psychological factors (i.e., depression, anxiety and stress) as predictors for suicidal ideation among adolescents. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 190 students (103 males and 87 females), aged 15 to 19 years old from two different schools in Kuala Lumpur. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21-item version (DASS-21) was used to measure depression, anxiety and stress among the students, and the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS) to measure suicidal ideation. The data were analysed using Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analysis.
RESULTS: The results show that 11.10%, 10.00%, and 9.50% of the students reported that they were experiencing severe depression, anxiety and stress, respectively. There were significant correlations between depression, anxiety, and stress with suicidal ideation. However, only depression was identified as a predictor for suicidal ideation.
CONCLUSION: Hence, this study extends the role of depression in predicting suicidal ideation among adolescents in the Malaysian context. The findings imply that teenagers should be assisted in strengthening their positive coping strategies in managing distress to reduce depression and suicidal ideation.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the risk and protective factors contributing to suicidality among undergraduate college students in seven provinces in China.
METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 13,387 college students from seven universities in Ningxia, Shandong, Shanghai, Jilin, Qinghai, Shaanxi, and Xinjiang. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires.
RESULTS: Higher scores in the psychological strain, depression, anxiety, stress, and psychache (psychological risk factors for suicidality) and lower scores in self-esteem and purpose in life (psychological protective factors against suicidality) were associated with increased suicidality among undergraduate students in China. Demographic factors which were associated with higher risks of suicidality were female gender, younger age, bad academic results, were an only child, non-participation in school associations, and had an urban household registration. Perceived good health was protective against suicidality.
CONCLUSIONS: Knowing the common risk and protective factors for suicidality among Chinese undergraduate students is useful in developing interventions targeted at this population and to guide public health policies on suicide in China.
METHODS: This study comprises of three phases, namely (1) items selection phase, (2) pilot study phase, and (3) scale validation phase. During the first phase, the items were selected from items pools which gathered from previous suicide ideation/ attitude scales. Then the pilot study was carried out to examine the items for Yatt Suicide Attitude Scale (YSAS). Lastly, the Yatt Suicide Attitude Scale (YSAS) validation study was conducted with 219 university students.
RESULTS: Initial version of YSAS comprised 16 items and three components. After factor analysis, the questionnaire was reduced into only two components (Suicide Ideation and Suicide Attempt) with 5 items each. Both of the components obtained high reliability value (.89 and.86 respectively) and the questionnaire accounted for 67.84% of the total variance.
CONCLUSION: The analysis showed that YSAS has an acceptable reliability and validity for Malaysian population. Although these findings corroborate literature on development of suicide ideation assessment instrument for specific cultural context, there is a need to further examine its reliability with clinical population and general population of different cultural context in Malaysia.
METHOD: We assessed mental health and suicidal behavior of 102 self-identified homosexual males from a community-based organization that works with the sexual minority population.
RESULTS: One-third of the participants (32.4%) had experienced attempted suicide, and almost half (47.1%) had a history of suicidal ideation and self-harm (40.2%). Compared to a heterosexual sample, homosexual males had poorer mental health as they scored higher on Beck Hopelessness Scale (Cohen's d = 0.29) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) (Cohen's d = 0.57). The results revealed positive correlations between self-harm, suicidal ideation and suicide attempt scores. Participants with history of suicide attempt, suicide ideation and self-harm reported worse general health, more social dysfunction, and severe depression than those without such history.
CONCLUSION: Suicidality and mental health conditions among homosexual males in Bangladesh have appeared to be alarming. Given the concerns, we offer some recommendations for practitioners and social workers who are serving this population in Bangladesh.
OBJECTIVE: The current study examines the association between religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in six provinces in China.
METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 11,407 college students from six universities in Ningxia, Shandong, Shanghai, Jilin, Qinghai, and Shaanxi. We collected the data between October 2017 and March 2018 using self-report questionnaires. They included self-report measures of depression, psychache, hopelessness, self-esteem, social support, and life purpose.
RESULTS: Participants with a Christian affiliation had 1.5 times (95% CI: 1.14, 1.99, p = 0.004) higher odds of indicating an elevated suicide risk, 3.1 times (95% CI: 1.90, 5.04, p<0.001) higher odds of indicating a previous suicide attempt, and increased overall suicidality (B = 0.105, p < 0.001) after accounting for demographic and risk/protective factors. Christians also scored the highest in depression, psychache, hopelessness, and the lowest social support, self-esteem, and purpose in life. Muslims reported decreased suicidality (B = -0.034, p = 0.031). Buddhism/Daoism yielded non-significant results in the multivariate analyses.
CONCLUSIONS: Christian college students reported increased suicidality levels, perhaps due to public policies on religion. The decreased suicidality levels among Muslims may be attributed to higher perceived social support. The associations between religious affiliation and suicidality, depression, and hopelessness contrast sharply with US samples. This finding may be influenced by interactions between the religious denomination, individual, and social/political factors. This conclusion includes the possibility of anti-religious discrimination, which this paper did not investigate as a possible mediator and therefore remains a conjecture worthy of future investigation.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 320 students from urban and rural secondary schools. The participants were randomly selected via multi-stage sampling. They completed the Malay versions of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS).
RESULTS: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 26.2%. On binary logistic regression analysis, variables with significant association with depressive symptoms were race (P = 0.028), type of class (P < 0.001), mother's education level (P = 0.036), type of housing (P = 0.036), parents' marital status (P = 0.012), alcohol intake (P = 0.005), stealing (P < 0.001) and history of disciplinary record (P = 0.005). Variables that remained significant on multivariable logistic regression were type of class (P = 0.004), parents' marital status (P = 0.017) and stealing (P < 0.001). Students from the Arts stream (OR, 2.43) with parents who were separated, divorced or widowed (OR, 3.13) and who had experience of stealing (OR, 3.27) were predicted to be at risk of developing depressive symptoms. There was a significant correlation between total CDI score and total BSS score (P < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of depressive symptoms in adolescents was high. Depressive symptoms are significantly correlated with suicidal ideation. Greater collaboration between the education and health agencies is essential for mental health promotion in schools and early detection of depression, especially in at-risk adolescents.
DATA AND METHODOLOGY: Data were obtained by a questionnaire survey in a large public hospital in a big metropolitan city of China. The final sample consisted of 1012 respondents with 237 (23.4%) being male and 775 (76.6%) being female. The respondents were of three groups: (1) Believers (n = 34; 3.5%); (2) Non-Believers or Atheists (n = 547; 55.8%); and (3) Agnostics or Fence-Sitters (n = 400; 40.8%). Suicidality was measured by the NCS-Suicidality Scale, and standard measures were employed for other major variables.
FINDINGS: In line with other recent studies in China, the religion rate among the urban adults remained low (3.5%). However, about 40.8% of the respondents chose "don't know" and could be fence-sitters on the issue of religious belief. Many of them are involved in various folk beliefs which may not be considered as religious. The religious believers were at higher risk of suicidality and depression than the atheists and the fence-sitters. However, the fence-sitters were higher than the believers and atheists on psychological strains, and they were higher on depression compared to the atheists.
CONCLUSION: The religious believers and religious fence-sitters have higher psychopathologic risks and suicidal risk than the atheist group. Religion as of low prevalence in Chinese societies is a social value deviant from the norm and its practitioners are likely to be marginalized or stigmatized. The Strain Theory of Suicide is used for detailed explanations.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was carried out among 452 youths from Pokhara, Nepal. The present study included both genders (age 18-24 years) who were smokers as well as non-smokers.
Results: Across the study period, 452 participants were identified after matching for age, and sex (226 in the smoking group and 226 in the non-smoking group). The mean age of participants was 21.6±1.2 years and 58.8% were males. The overall rate of suicidal ideation in our cohort was 8.9%. Smokers were slightly more likely to report suicidal ideation than non-smokers (aOR 1.12). The risk of developing suicidal ideation was 3.56 (95% CI 1.26-10.09) times more in individuals who smoked greater than 3.5 cigarettes per week (p=0.01).
Conclusion: The rate of suicidal ideation was slightly higher among smokers and a dose-response relationship was identified with the number of cigarettes smoked per week. Being aware of the link between smoking and suicidal ideation may help health care professionals working with young people to address more effectively the issues of mental well-being and thoughts about suicide.