published_or_final_version / abstract / Sociology / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

The increasing prevalence of suicidal behaviors in the United States inflicts massive emotional and economic costs in the United States (CDC, 2012). Efforts to detect and prevent these behaviors have not resulted in overall reduction of these costs, and could be enhanced with new approaches to assessing risk for specific suicide outcomes (Klonsky & May, 2014). Several contemporary theories of suicide make distinctions between suicide outcomes (i.e., suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, suicide death) that are often conflated in studies of suicide risk (Joiner, 2005; O'Connor & Kirtley, 2018). The present research, borne of these theories, sought to examine whether known demographic and psychiatric risk factors for suicide help distinguish between respondents of a nationally-representative survey measure, who reported either a history of suicidal ideation, a history of suicide attempt, or neither of these experiences. Significant differences were observed when comparing individuals reporting a history of attempt or ideation with individuals reporting no suicide history across many of these factors. Significant associations were also observed when comparing those reporting a history of ideation and those reporting a history of attempt, suggesting that these factors may provide some degree of incremental validity for the detection of risk, specifically for suicide attempt. Demographically, race/ethnicity and level of education yielded the most significant distinctions between those reporting a history of ideation and history of attempt. Psychiatrically, antisocial and borderline personality disorders and a history of mania yielded the most significant distinctions between those reporting a history of ideation and history of attempt. These results could be applied in developing screening measures for individuals at increased risk for making suicide attempts, which carry their own emotional and economic costs when not resulting in death, and are also highly associated with eventual mortality by suicide. These applications as well as study limitations will be discussed in detail.

Background. Suicide in China now is recognized as a major public health challenge. It is distinctively associated with a preponderance of more deaths in women than men, and heavy burdens among rural youth and young adults. Although there are accumulating data regarding the epidemiology of suicide, there are only meager data on suicidal ideation and attempts. Determining whether risk factors for attempted suicide and suicidal ideation are similar to those for suicide will contribute to formulating future prevention efforts. / Discussion and conclusions. Our results uncovered, despite coming from a national population with a relatively elevated risk for death by suicide, a prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts that is comparable to internationally reported data. The overall pattern of correlates for ideation, planning, and attempts was similar in many respects to those reported for completed suicide within the same population, on the perspective of demographic distribution. We consider the contexts for these findings, including the potential impacts of rapid urbanization and large numbers of migrant workers. Our results underscored the significance of depression as a major risk factor for suicidal morbidity. In addition, a number of socio-cultural factors were also vital. Findings from this study helped to shed light on the factors associated with suicidal morbidity in China. The most important lesson is that both psychopathological and sociocultural factors affect suicide morbidity in China, with more traits in the sociocultural domain surviving the final analysis. It reminds researchers that when looking at Chinese suicide, the endeavor should not be limited to psychopathology and the puzzle of why the rates of depression among Chinese suicide were lower than other countries. Instead, socio-cultural components should be paid equal attention. This is especially helpful for suicide prevention efforts in communities or from the public health perspective, for example, that attitude toward suicide (an important associate of suicidal morbidity in China based on our data) is possible to change under the movement of public education. The treatment for depression can only reach clinical samples, yet most of people who die by suicide come instead from communities. Local knowledge is essential as the profile of risks might differ markedly from other countries such as alcohol use and religiosity. / Findings. 1654 subjects, 98% of those approached and 55% of the enumerated potential subjects were interviewed. Among the unapproachable subjects with demographic profile gathered (n=995), 77% (n=811) were unobtainable because they were migrant workers. Lifetime and one-year prevalence data included: Any suicidal ideation -- 18.8%, 5.2%, respectively; serious ideation -- 8.7%, 2.3%; planning -- 5.7%, 1.5%; and attempt -- 2.8%, 0.5%. Comparisons among strata of demographic characteristics showed more prevalent suicidal ideation and attempts associated with female gender, lower education, lower income, farmers, greater rurality of residence, and having never married or "other" married. There was a higher prevalence of suicide ideation, but not for suicide attempt, among students. High risks of suicidality were also found in those with a higher score of depressive symptoms in the past two weeks, with positive screening of major depression or dysthymia, higher score of neuroticism. Poor quality of life and lower life satisfaction increased the risk for suicidality, but the impact was secondary to depression. Many socio-cultural factors that have not been elucidated in previous research were found to be associated with suicidality, including attitude toward suicide, reasons for living, violence exposure, religiosity, and exposure to completed suicide, aside from the number of life events. Surprisingly, alcohol use is not harmful, in fact, is potentially beneficial; and having a religion is a risk factor instead of being protective as observed in most countries. / Methods. This was a cross-sectional community survey of all available individuals, ages 16-34 years, of 10 randomly selected villages in the Mianyang Region, Sichuan Province. Each participated in face-to-face interviews with structured questionnaires regarding indicators of suicidal morbidity, a range of sociodemographic characteristics, as well as psychopathological and socio-cultural features. We report the lifetime and one-year prevalence of suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts among the youth and young adults of these communities, and their demographic, psychopathological, and social-cultural correlates. / Dai, Jing. / Adviser: Helen F.K. Chiu. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: B, page: 3777. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-179). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008. / Full text also available online. Scroll down to electronic link.

published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

This study gathers the literature on suicidal children and creates guidelines designed to assist professionals with assessing the suicidality of a child. Analysis of the literature reveals that there are varying ages of children used in the research, a lack of standardization for the definition of suicide, and resistance towards a collective research approach to understanding suicidal behaviour. The literature also identifies the important risk factors, which are incorporated into guidelines for determing this sucidality of a child: family discord and violence, depression, significant loss, poor and/or dysfunctional parent/child communication and bonding, aggressive behaviour, stress, physical abuse, parental separation/divorce, hopelessness, academic difficulties, prior suicide attempts, and viewing death as a temporary state of being. / viii, 104 leaves ; 29 cm.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Also available in print.