The study analyses the psychometric properties of the Reasons for Living Inventory for Young Adults (RFL-YA) in a group of 368 university students from Lima, Peru, from both sexes and whose ages fluctuate between 16 and 30 years of age. The instruments used were the RFL-YA (Gutiérrez et al., 2002), Antonovsky’s Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC) (1993) and Hert’s Hope Scale (Arnau, Martínez, Niño de Guzmán, Herth & Yoshiyuki, 2010) in order to determine the convergent validity of the RFL-YA. Results show elevated reliability indexes. A 0.93 coefficient for the whole test and a 0.83 and 0.92 for each of the areas of the test. The factorial structure is adequate, and all 5 factors were reproduced with a 63.74% of explained variance. The correlation between the Sense of Coherence Scale and the Hope Scale resulted positive, high and significant, thus confirming the validity and reliability of the inventory for similar populations. / Se analizan las propiedades psicométricas del Inventario Razones para Vivir, versión para jóvenes adultos (RFL-YA) en 368 estudiantes universitarios de Lima, Perú, de ambos sexos, cuyas edades oscilan entre los 16 y 30 años. Se aplicó el RFL-YA de Gutiérrez et al. (2002), además de la Escala de Sentido de Coherencia (SOC) de Antonovsky (1993) y la Escala de Esperanza de Herth (Arnau, Martínez, Niño de Guzmán, Herth & Yoshiyuki, 2010) para determinar la validez convergente de la escala. Los resultados mostraron elevados índices de confiabilidad. Un coeficiente de 0.93 para la prueba total y coeficientes entre 0.83 y 0.92 para cada una de las áreas de la prueba. La estructura factorial resultó adecuada, se reprodujeron los 5 factores con un 63.74% de varianza explicada. La correlación con las escalas de Sentido de Coherencia y Esperanza resultaron positivas, altas y significativas, con lo que se confirma la validez y confiabilidad del inventario para poblaciones similares a las del presente estudio.

This study focuses on the quality of life of suicide attempt survivors and the trajectories of their lives after their last attempt in the past two to ten years. Employing both a quantitative and qualitative approach but focusing largely on the qualitative data, I collected demographic data, gathered responses on an abbreviated Reasons for Living Inventory, and conducted open-ended phone interviews with 26 participants. The primary life course finding is that participants’ suicide attempts are often built on years of dealing with mental illness. The analysis also dispels many stereotypes associated with people who have attempted suicide. I explore patterns in participants’ reports of their experiences surrounding their attempt(s), the stigma they felt (largely internal), and how they tried to alleviate that stigma and speak openly about their experiences with suicide attempts and ideations.

Background: According to the broaden-and-build model of positive mood, positive emotions are believed to broaden cognition resources and build psychological resiliency, to help incur positive psychological outcomes. Aim: We examined hope as a potential mediator of the association between positive mood and suicide protection (viz., life satisfaction and reasons for living) in adults. We hypothesized that positive mood would be associated with greater suicide protection through broadening hope agency and building hope pathways. Method: A sample of 320 college students completed measures of positive emotions, hope, and suicide protection. Results: Results from bootstrapped mediation testing indicated that hope agency, but not hope pathways, partially or fully mediated the relationship between positive mood and suicide protection. Limitations: It is not clear whether these findings are generalizable to a more diverse adult population. Also, it is not possible to rule out alternative causal models involving positive emotions and suicide protection. Conclusion: These findings provide some promising preliminary evidence for how positive emotions might help build hope agency to foster greater suicide protection in adults.

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes toward violence and reasons for living in adolescents with high, moderate, and low self-esteem. An attitudes toward violence scale was devised for the purposes of this study. Self-Esteem was assessed using the shortened version of Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (SES). The Brief Reasons for Living in Adolescents (BRFL-A) was utilized to assess adaptive characteristics. The independent variables were gender and self-esteem. The dependent variables were total reasons for living score and attitudes toward violence score. Participants included 138 males and 95 females, ages 11 to 15 years old (M = 13.3) from a Kingsport City Middle School. A packet containing a short demographic questionnaire, Self-Esteem Scale, attitudes Toward Violence Questionnaire, and the Brief Reasons for Living Inventory was administered. A 2 (gender) X 3 (level of self-esteem) Analysis of Variance with unequal cell sizes was used to test for main and interaction effects. The significance level was set at the .05 level. For the dependent variable attitudes toward violence, main effects were found for both gender and self-esteem. For the dependent variable reasons for living, a main effect was found for self-esteem but not for gender. No interaction effects were found. An inverse relationship was found between violence and reasons for living. Significant relationships between some of the subscales of the RFL and the dependent variables were non-hypothesized findings of interest. Maleness and low self-esteem emerged as predictors of more accepting attitudes toward violence. Low self-esteem was significantly related to fewer reasons for living. Implication of findings, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research were discussed.

This study examined emotional empathy and reasons for living in substance using college students. Participants included 49 males and 120 females, ages 18 to 54 years (M = 21.95) from undergraduate psychology classes. A packet containing a substance abuse scale, a short demographic, Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES), and Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL) was administered. The independent variables were gender and levels of substance use. The dependent variables were reasons for living scores and emotional empathy scores. A 2 (gender) X 3 (level of substance use) Analysis of Variance was used. For empathy, a main effect was found for gender but not for substance use. For RFL, no effects were found. Significant relationships between two demographics and dependent variables were non-hypothesized findings. Being arrested for a crime other than a minor traffic violation was related to low emotional empathy. Suicidal ideation was significantly related to fewer reasons for living.

Suicidal Behavior in the U.S. Army is a problem that persists despite significant efforts to promote help-seeking behaviors and the investment of millions of dollars to develop resilience-building interventions. Evidence-based literature supports the use of reasons for living as a protective factor against suicidal behavior in clinical and nonclinical samples, yet it has rarely been studied in an active duty (AD) Army population. This study examined the relationship between self-reported reasons for living and self-reported suicidal behavior, to determine if high levels of reasons for living correlated with low risk of suicidal behavior, over and above demographics, depression, stressful life events, and social support, using standardized questionnaires. The study sample consisted of 244 AD Army soldiers attending the Warrior Leadership Course in Germany. The results analysis showed that reasons for living were inversely related to suicidal behavior among this sample. Although African American soldiers scored higher on measures of reasons for living and suicidal behavior, demographic variables did not significantly predict suicidal behavior. Reasons for living accounted for a unique amount of variance in suicidal behavior; however, depression, stressful life events, and social support were better predictors. This study demonstrates the benefits of incorporating reasons for living in military research and practice, as efforts are made to identify AD Army personnel at risk for suicide. The study findings also support the claim that examining protective and risk factors supersedes efforts to study risk factors alone. It promotes positive social change by informing efforts to develop comprehensive suicide prevention policies, programs, and procedures aimed at effectively reducing the rate of suicide in the U.S. Army.

Pozityvioji psichologija akcentuoja charakterio stiprybių ir laimingumo svarbą asmenybės gyvenimo kokybei, fizinei ir psichinei sveikatai, tačiau netirtos galimos šių reiškinių sąsajos su priežastimis gyventi, kurios gali būti reikšmingos vykdant savižudybių prevenciją. Atsižvelgiant į paauglystės amžiaus problemiškumą, šio tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti vyresniųjų klasių mokinių charakterio stiprybių ir laimingumo ryšį su priežastimis gyventi. Tyrime dalyvavo 180 (109 merginos ir 71 vaikinas) IX – XII klasių Kėdainių rajono Akademijos vidurinės mokyklos mokinių. Charakterio stiprybės matuotos tam skirto Charakterio stiprybių ir dorybių klausimyno trumpuoju variantu, sukurtu C. Peterson ir M. E. P. Seligman 2003 metais. Respondentų laimingumas apskaičiuotas Subjektyvaus laimingumo skale, sukurta S. Lyubomirsky 1999 m. Vyresniųjų klasių mokinių priežastys gyventi tirtos Priežasčių gyventi klausimynu, skirtu paaugliams, kurį sukūrė A. Osman 1998 metais. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad charakterio stiprybės statistiškai patikimai skiriasi lyties atžvilgiu. Išskirta po tris labiausiai išreikštas charakterio stiprybes – merginų grupėje: humoras ir žaismingumas, mylėjimas ir buvimas mylima/meilės priėmimas bei dvasingumas/tikėjimas; vaikinų: mylėjimas ir buvimas mylimu/meilės priėmimas, dvasingumas/tikėjimas ir pomėgis mokytis. Taip pat rasti skirtumai tarp vaikinams ir merginoms reikšmingų priežasčių gyventi išreikštumo. Statistiškai reikšmingų skirtumų tarp vaikinų ir merginų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Positive psychology of character strengths highlights the importance of personal happiness and quality of life, physical and mental health, but these effects have not been studied in a link with the reasons for living, which may be of interest in the suicide prevention. Evaluating the problemic side of adolescence the purpose of the study is to assess high school students' character strengths and happiness relationship with reasons for living. The study included 180 pupils (109 girls and 71 boy) of IX - XII grades from Kėdainiai District the Akademija Secondary school. The strengths of character were measured by the short version of the questionnaire, developed by C. Peterson and M. E. P. Seligman in 2003. The happiness of respondents were measured by Subjective happiness scale, the author - S. Lyubomirsky 1999. The reasons for living of the older pupils were investigated by the questionnaire created by A. Osman in 1998 and called The reasons for living questionnaire. The results showed statistical difference between the strength of character and gender. Excluded three most pronounced character strengths - in girls group: the humour and playfulness, loving and allowing oneself to be loved, spirituality/faith; in boys group: loving and allowing oneself to be loved, spirituality/faith and love of learning. Results also showed differences in the expression of the significant reasons for living between boys and girls. There were no statistically significant differences found in... [to full text]

Paauglių nuostatų savižudybių atžvilgiu ir nuo savižudybės sulaikančių priežasčių, suicidiško elgesio tarpusavio ryšio problema dar nėra išsamiai tyrinėta, tačiau, anot N. Žemaitienės (2000), vis labiau stiprėja įsitikinimas, kad nuostatos dėl savižudybės veikia savižudybių mastą ir pobūdį visuomenėje. Žvelgiant iš pozityviosios žmogiškosios perspektyvos, ne mažiau svarbu tyrinėti atsparumo veiksnius, kurie, nepaisant nevilties ar patiriamų stresinių gyvenimo aplinkybių, asmenį sulaiko nuo savižudybės veiksmo. Taigi labai svarbu klausti, kokios nuostatos lemia gyvenimo, o ne mirties motyvaciją. Yra duomenų rodančių, kad nuostatos savižudybių atžvilgiu yra susijusios su mintimis apie savižudybę, mėginimais nusižudyti ir įvykdytų savižudybių paplitimu, tačiau 16-18 metų paauglių grupės yra mažai tyrinėtos. Šio tyrimo rezultatai sėkmingai gali būti panaudoti praktinio užsiėmimo temai, diskusijai, taigi įvertinimas gali lengvai peraugti į prevenciją ir pagalbą. / The problem of suicidal behavior, teenagers attitude to suicides and the reasons that prevent suicides has not been thoroughly investigated, but according to N. Žemaitienės and other authors (2000), a conviction is increasingly growing that provisions of the act of suicide extents the scale and nature in society. Looking through a positive human perspective, it is very important to study the resistance factors, which, despite the despair and stress experiences through circumstances of life deters a person from suicidal acts. So the most important question is what provisions determine life and do not motivate death. There is evidence suggesting that the provisions are linked to thoughts of suicide, attempted suicide and commited suicide prevalence, but group of teenagers aged 16 – 18 are poorly investigated. Survey results can be successfully used as topic for practical sessions, discussions, thus assessment can be easily used as prevention and help.

Suicidal Behavior in the U.S. Army is a problem that persists despite significant efforts to promote help-seeking behaviors and the investment of millions of dollars to develop resilience-building interventions. Evidence-based literature supports the use of reasons for living as a protective factor against suicidal behavior in clinical and nonclinical samples, yet it has rarely been studied in an active duty (AD) Army population. This study examined the relationship between self-reported reasons for living and self-reported suicidal behavior, to determine if high levels of reasons for living correlated with low risk of suicidal behavior, over and above demographics, depression, stressful life events, and social support, using standardized questionnaires. The study sample consisted of 244 AD Army soldiers attending the Warrior Leadership Course in Germany. The results analysis showed that reasons for living were inversely related to suicidal behavior among this sample. Although African American soldiers scored higher on measures of reasons for living and suicidal behavior, demographic variables did not significantly predict suicidal behavior. Reasons for living accounted for a unique amount of variance in suicidal behavior; however, depression, stressful life events, and social support were better predictors. This study demonstrates the benefits of incorporating reasons for living in military research and practice, as efforts are made to identify AD Army personnel at risk for suicide. The study findings also support the claim that examining protective and risk factors supersedes efforts to study risk factors alone. It promotes positive social change by informing efforts to develop comprehensive suicide prevention policies, programs, and procedures aimed at effectively reducing the rate of suicide in the U.S. Army.

The purpose of this study was to research gender, affectional/sexual orientation, and sex roles to determine how people respond to the Expanded Reasons for Living Scale by Linehan, Goodstein, Nielsen, and Chiles (1983). This study used the Bem Sex Role Inventory, short form (Bem, 1981) to assess androgynous and nonandrogynous people. Results from the statistical analysis revealed that bisexuals had the lowest reasons for living score followed by gay men/lesbians, and then heterosexuals on the Total RFL, as well as on the Responsiblility to Family and Moral Objections subscales. On the Child-Related Concerns subscale heterosexuals had a higher RFL score than both homosexuals and bisexuals. The Fear of Social Disapproval subscale revealed that heterosexuals and homosexuals were significantly higher than bisexuals. Androgynous people had a higher RFL on the Moral Objections subscale than nonandrogynous people and Androgynous women scored higher than nonandrogynous women on the Survival and Coping Belief subscale.