Suicidal behaviors have continued to increase in the United States (U.S.) Army population since the beginning of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Suicide rates are higher in men compared to women; yet, the rate of suicidal ideation is higher in women than men. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a correlation between suicidal ideation and protective factors, if social support and resiliency are different for men and women within the U.S. Army population, and if gender acts as a moderating variable between suicidal ideation and protective factors. The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior was used as the foundation for this study. Secondary data were collected from the U.S. Army Public Health Center. After removing missing responses, the total sample size for this study was N = 3,446. Chi-square, independent samples t test, and multiple logistic regressions were used to determine the relationship between gender, suicidal ideation, resiliency, and social support in the U.S. Army active duty population. The percentage who reported suicidal ideation was 3.6% versus 4.9% for males and females, respectively. Social support was statistically significantly correlated with suicidal ideation (p = 0.002) while resiliency was not statistically significantly correlated with suicidal ideation (p = 0.68). Neither scale was effective in detecting differences among gender groups. Refined instruments are needed for evaluation of small changes in regard to protective factors. To promote social change, this study can be used to enhance knowledge about protective factors and gender in the context of the suicidal process, thus furthering the knowledge about how to prevent suicide in the U.S. Army population.

Policing has long been recognized by experts in the field as a stressful, unpredictable, emotionally exhausting, and dangerous occupation. Stress and contributing risk factors have lasting and sometimes fatal results among police officers. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a relationship between symptoms of depression and 3 constructs of the Personal Observation Wellness and Evaluation Report--Power Portfolio (PP) survey, specifically administrative and organizational pressures, emotional, physical, psychological threats, and lack of administrative support. Archival data from the National Police Suicide Foundation were used. The independent variable was symptoms of depression as measured by the PP. The dependent variables were administrative and organizational pressures, physical and psychological threats, and lack of support as measured by the work-related problems domain of the PP. The participants (N = 150) consisted of officers employed by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The results of the regression analysis and ANOVA were significant for the 3 research questions. The independent variable depression was related to work-related problems, work-related punishments, and the overall score reflecting participants feelings about their work as police officers. The results illustrate that police officers encounter organizational/administration demands with added stressors that accumulatively can develop into maladaptive coping mechanism and skills. Implications for positive social change include the development of mandatory interventions tailored to meet the need of individual police officers. These and other regulations, training, and protocols may reduce officers' work-related stress and improve the relationship between line and administrative personnel.

Alcohol and drug abuse are strong predictors of suicide. While screening methods have proven effective at identifying and treating substance abuse in non-treatment-seeking users (e.g., screening and brief intervention [SBI]), less attention has been given to the co-occurrence of suicidality among this population, including its correlates and etiology. The current study addresses this gap by presenting data from early adult emergency department (ED) patients (mean age = 27; N = 505), screened for substance abuse and suicidal ideation. Prevalence of past year ideation was high (15%). Results demonstrated a significant and positive indirect effect of cocaine use severity on likelihood of suicidal ideation, mediated through family support. The implications for SBI practices in the ED and suicide etiology among non-treatment-seeking substance abusers are discussed.

This thesis project uses various Industrial design methods to create a concept that will evolve a sandbox into a more versatile and interesting playing area. By using parts that can be attached to the frame of the sandbox many different versions can be built to suit different demands and needs. The concept also uses lights and decorated panels to make the sandbox more interesting and visible in today's colorful playgrounds. The project is based on the meaning different stakeholders could have in the product. Research has shown that products made with the help of stakeholders has a better chance to be realized. The findings from research by interviews, fieldtrips and library studies were used as reference when sketching and building sketch-models. Sketching is used both for ideation and for explanatory pictures and has been a big part of the project. Many of the sketches and photos can be seen in the report and in the attachments.

This study aimed to explore the relationship among self-esteem, problem solving ability, ways of coping, social support and suicidal ideation of patients with schizophrenia and the differences between these variables according to the existence of suicide attempt of the patients with schizophrenia. In order to analyse the relationship and find out the differences among patients who did and did not attempt suicide, Rosenberg&#039 / s Self Esteem Scale, Problem Solving Inventory, Turkish Ways of Coping Inventory, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and Suicidal Ideation Scale were conducted to 90 patients with schizophrenia. The results of the study indicated that there was not a significant main effect for suicide attempt on self-esteem, problem solving,problem focused coping, emotion focused coping, indirect coping, social support and suicidal ideation of patients with schizophrenia. The only variable that significantly predict suicidal ideation found to be self-esteem. The results of the study evaluated and implications of the study were discussed. Finally, limitations of the study and recommendations for future research were explained.

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Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students, making it a prime target for prevention initiatives on college campuses. Efforts to manage the problem of suicidality on campus frequently involve shepherding students at elevated risk into treatment services through the college counseling center. Several scholars have called for suicide prevention efforts to take a public health approach, seeking to intervene more broadly by improving the mental health of the general population that is currently at little to no risk of developing an imminent suicidal crisis. One manner of expanding these prevention efforts is to investigate those factors that preserve the emotional and mental resilience of college students facing similar life stressors and distress levels. As such, scholars of suicidality have called for closer examination of those protective factors that prevent some students--experiencing comparable levels of stress as compared to their suicidal peers--from ever entering into or progressing along the suicidality continuum. Mindfulness is a construct that has shown promise in the intervention literature for its ameliorative affect on a range of disorders and problematic coping behaviors. The possible protective benefit of dispositional levels of mindfulness at varying points along the suicidal continuum is not well understood, and the present study seeks to remedy this gap in the literature in a large sample of college students. Using archival data from a national survey of college student coping collected in 2011 by The National Research Consortium of Counseling Centers in Higher Education, this study explored the effect of trait mindfulness levels on entry into and progression along the continuum of suicidality. Multilevel modeling was used to explore associations between historical and demographic predictors of suicidality, dispositional mindfulness levels, self-reported distress levels during a recent stressful period, strength of intent during a recent suicidal crisis, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors along a continuum of suicidality. Results indicated that mindfulness conveys protection at the threshold of developing suicidal thoughts during a recent stressor, but is not associated with the shift from suicidal thoughts to the development of suicidal behaviors. Implications are discussed with respect to the role mindfulness can play in the development of comprehensive, population-based suicide prevention programming and mental health promotion initiatives on college campuses. / text

Creativity research is an underdeveloped area of educational psychology. For example, studies of students’ creativity as a predictor of academic achievement are uncommon in the field. Moreover, perseverance—which is an integral part of the definition of creativity (Sternberg, 2012)—is not typically measured in creativity research. To address these issues, the current study sought to discern within an academic context whether perseverance serves as a mediating factor between creativity and academic achievement. Two undergraduate student samples (N = 817; N = 187) participated in a survey measuring their creativity and perseverance. This multiple manuscript dissertation sought to examine the psychometric properties of a measure of creativity: the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS) and a measure of perseverance: the Grit Scale and to explore the relationships between creativity, perseverance, academic motivation, and academic achievement. Study 1 found that the RIBS had a correlated two-factor structure with two subscales: the Scatterbrained Subscale and the Divergent Thinking Subscale. Grit had a correlated two-factor structure reflecting interest and effort, and this reinforced previous findings regarding this scale These two scales hold promise as measures of the creative process. Study 2 found that although traditional motivation measures consistently predicted grades, grit only predicted grades in one sample, and creativity had no relationship with grades. Creativity appears to be orthogonal to academic achievement as measured by grades. There was evidence that grit can mediate the relationships between motivation and grades, but only in one sample. This research shares the limitations of other self-report surveys, but the psychometrics behind the measures were strong. Future research should continue to examine creativity and perseverance as important noncognitive constructs in academic contexts especially among diverse populations.

Background Violence is a global public health problem and violence among youth is a matter of high priority. Adolescence and young adulthood are important periods for the foundation of future health. Youth victimization may have serious health consequences, making it important to address the occurrence and socio-medical context for possible interventions against violence. Aims To analyze prevalence, risk patterns and gender differences in emotional, physical, sexual, and multiple-violence victimizations and the associations between violence victimization and sexual ill health, sexual risk behaviors and mental health in Swedish youth. Methods A cross sectional study using two samples, a national sample from nine youth health centers in Sweden and a population-based sample from a middle-sized Swedish city. The questionnaire included standardized instruments addressing violence exposure (NorAQ), socio-demographics, mental and sexual ill-health and sexual risk behaviors, alcohol and substance use. Proportions and crude and adjusted odds ratios with a 95% CI were calculated. Results A total of 2,250 young women and 920 men, aged 15-23, answered the questionnaire at the youth health centers. In upper secondary school, 1,658 women and 1,589 men, aged 15-22, answered the questionnaire. High prevalence rates with gendered differences both in rates and in co-occurrence of different types of violence were found. Women were more often exposed to emotional violence and sexual violence than men, while men were more often physically victimized. For both women and men, violence victimization before the age of 15 was strongly associated with all types of violence victimizations during the past year. Strong associations were found between multiple-violence victimization and poor mental health in both genders. Among the sexually experienced students, consistent associations between lifetime multiple-violence victimization and various sexual ill-health and sexual risk behaviors were found in both genders, except for non-contraceptive use. Conclusions High prevalence of violence victimization in youth and strong associations between victimization, especially multiple victimization, and poor mental and sexual health were found. This needs to be recognized and addressed in social and medical settings.

Suicide in the South African Police Service is a reality. The inability to cope effectively with stressful events in a working environment could lead to chronic stress, burnout and even suicide. The purpose of this research was to establish the current level of suicide ideation in police officials in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. Secondly, the purpose was to determine the relationship between coping and stress, and thirdly, whether these factors could he used to predict suicide ideation of police officials in the Kwazulu-Natal Province. A cross-sectional survey design was used to achieve the research objectives. The study population consisted of 272 uniformed police officials in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. The following measuring battery was used: a biographical questionnaire, the Adult Suicide Ideation Questionnaire, COPE Questionnaire, and the Police Stress Inventory. Descriptive statistics (e.g. standard deviations, means, skewness and kurtosis) and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Cronbach alpha coefficients, inter-item correlation coefficients and confirmatory factor analysis were used to assess the reliability and validity of the measuring battery. Discriminant analysis was used to determine which variables could be used to predict suicide ideation. The results indicated that 9 (3,30%) of the uniformed police officials have significant suicide ideation levels and that 11 (4,15%) police officials in the KwaZulu-Natal Province have attempted suicide in the past. No difference was found between the suicide ideation of males and females. A positive correlation between suicide ideation, police-specific stressors, as well as problem-focused coping, passive coping and social support was found. The results also indicated correlations between suicide ideation, medical condition and alcohol abuse, where stress because of lack of resources was identified as the primary stressor that caused alcohol abuse. The results also indicate that stress caused by job demands and lack of resources as well as police-specific stressors, problem-focused coping, passive coping and social support could be used to classify police officials into groups of high and low suicide ideation. Recommendations with regard to the improvement of the South African Police Service, as well as for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.