The current study tested a component of the social disconnection model (Hewitt, Flett, Sherry, & Caelian, 2006) by determining whether the interpersonal components of perfectionism and suicide outcomes in youth are mediated by experiences of being bullied, a marker of social disconnection. The perfectionism trait of socially prescribed perfectionism and the perfectionistic self-presentation facets, suicide outcomes, and experiences of being bullied were measured in a heterogeneous sample of 152 psychiatric outpatient youth, aged 8 to 20 (mean = 12.87, SD = 2.97; 83 males, 69 females). The current study found evidence in support of the social disconnection model whereby the perfectionistic self-presentation facet, nondisplay of imperfection, and suicide outcomes were mediated by experiences of being bullied. Implications of self presentational components of perfectionism and social disconnection in suicide outcomes for youth are discussed, in terms of both their conceptual and clinical significance.

Les patients atteints de schizophrénie sont très à risque de se suicider. En effet, leur taux de suicide à vie varie entre 4 % à 15 %. Plusieurs facteurs de risque sont associés à la schizophrénie dont les premières années du développement de la maladie, la phase active de la maladie, la comorbidité avec les troubles de l'Axe l, la conscience de la maladie, et les événements de vie. La littérature existante sur la conscience de la maladie est contradictoire et celle sur les événements de vie est peu développée. De plus, aucune étude n'a systématiquement investiguer le rôle de l'acceptation de la maladie sur le risque suicidaire chez les patients atteints de schizophrénie. Le but premier de cette étude: étudier l'impact du rapport à la maladie des patients atteints de schizophrénie sur le suicide. Pour ce faire, nous examinons l'influence de: 1) la conscience de la maladie sur le suicide, 2) l'acceptation de la maladie sur le suicide, 3) l'acceptation de la maladie par la famille et l'implication de la famille dans le traitement de la maladie sur le suicide, et 4) les événements de vie, plus particulièrement ceux «générés» par la maladie sur le suicide. La présente recherche est une autopsie psychologique où un groupe de 29 personnes, décédées par suicide ayant un diagnostic de schizophrénie ou de trouble schizoaffectif, a été comparé avec un groupe de 33 patients vivants atteints de schizophrénie ou de trouble schizoaffectif. Les entrevues sont menées avec un membre de la famille. La collecte de données se fait sur: 1) des informations sociodémographiques, 2) les diagnostiques de l'Axe I et II, 3) la conscience de la maladie, l'acceptation de la maladie et du traitement du sujet, l'acceptation de la maladie par la famille, l'implication de la famille dans le traitement de la maladie à l'aide d'un questionnaire que nous avons développée et validé, et 4) les événements de vie et les difficultés vécus durant les douze derniers mois à l'aide du Life Events and Difficulties Schedule. Les résultats indiquent qu'un rapport négatif à la maladie augmente de façon significative le risque de suicide chez les personnes atteintes de schizophrénie. Plus précisément, le refus d'accepter sa maladie et les événements reliés à la maladie, pour la plupart des événements de vie sévères, prédisent le suicide, bien que d'autres variables telles que le refus d'accepter le traitement de la maladie et la dépression actuelle non spécifiée augmentent aussi le risque de suicide. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Suicide, Schizophrénie, Trouble schizoaffectif, Conscience de la maladie, Acceptation de la maladie, Acceptation du traitement, Événements de vie, Comorbidité.

Depuis deux siècles, les transformations les plus remarquables du phénomène du suicide concernent la relation avec la variable âge. En effet, le suicide a longtemps progressé avec l'âge pour culminer à la vieillesse, mais le dernier quart de siècle au Québec a vu ce rapport modifié, suggérant qu'il s'agit désormais d'un phénomène de jeunes. Notre étude examine les tendances récentes de l'évolution de la mortalité par suicide au Québec du point de vue de l'âge, discute des effets respectifs possibles de l'âge, de la période et de la génération de 1926 à 2004 et offre des pistes d'interprétation sociologique. Nous présentons dans un premier temps les transformations de la société québécoise depuis 1930 ainsi qu'un bilan synthétique des connaissances sur le suicide au Québec par rapport aux tendances internationales, ceci du point de vue de différentes variables sociodémographiques. Notre étude rappelle ensuite les grandes théories et idées sur le suicide, de la littérature classique aux réflexions contemporaines. On y remarque que la variable âge est rarement au coeur de ces conceptions, mais plutôt en marge de celles-ci, médiatisées par d'autres variables sociales. Les résultats de notre analyse montrent la présence d'un net effet de génération dans l'évolution de la mortalité masculine due au suicide au Québec. Ce phénomène n'est pas présent chez les femmes. Les générations récentes adoptent toutefois un comportement différent de celles des baby-boomers et il sera intéressant de suivre leur trajectoire dans l'avenir. / Over the last two centuries, the most remarkable transformations in the phenomenon of suicide have been associated with the age variable. Indeed, suicide has traditionally progressed with age to reach its highest point with old age; however, over the last quarter of century in Quebec, things have changed and it would appear that it is now a youth-related phenomenon. Our study examines the recent tendencies in the evolution of mortality by suicide in Quebec from the point of view of age, discusses the possible respective effects of age, of the time period and of generations between 1926 and 2004 and proposes sociological interpretation leads. We initially present the transformations that have occured in Quebec's society since 1930 and provide a consolidated balance sheet of what is known on the subjet of suicide in Quebec as compared to international trends, all this from the standpoint of various sociodemographic variables. Our study then recalls the prominent theories and concepts on suicide, from traditional literature to contemporary thinking. It has been observed that the age variable is seldom at the core of these theories and concepts, but rather a marginal factor thereof, mediatized by other social variables. The results of our analysis clearly indicate a generation effect in the evolution of male mortality due to suicide in Quebec. This phenomenon is not present among women. However, recent generations adopt a behaviour that differs from the one shown by babies-boomers and it will be interesting to follow their journey in time.

This dissertation draws attention to the interaction between insurgents and the target state as the appropriate context for explaining the motivations of suicide bombers, the rationales of the organizations that support them, and the popularity in certain societies of suicide bombing. Based mainly on data collected from 88 interviews conducted in 2006 with senior leaders of six Palestinian political organizations and close relatives and friends of a 25 percent representative sample of Palestinian suicide bombers during the second intifada, it demonstrates the following: (1) During the second intifada, changes in the political opportunity structure, especially extreme state repression, were chiefly responsible for growing public support for suicide bombing, the development of organizational rationales justifying suicide bombing, and the crystallization of suicide bombers’ motivation to act. State repression produced a widespread desire for revenge at all levels of Palestinian society. (2) Cultural forces, notably the growing popularity of fundamentalist Islam and its embodiment in the political culture of certain militant organizations, were of secondary importance in causing the spread of suicide bombing. (3) Strategic calculations (“rational choice”) aimed at speeding the liberation of occupied territory were of tertiary importance in motivating suicide bombers but they figured more prominently at the level of organizational rationales. (4) While the literature often invokes creative agency, psychopathology, and material deprivation to explain the rise of suicide bombing, little or no effect was discovered for these variables.

The current study examined the efficacy of a 1 month future time perspective modification intervention over a 1 month and 6 months period. Participants (N = 92) with elevated scores on measures of depressive symptoms or suicidal ideation were assigned to either the intervention condition or a no-intervention control condition. A repeated-measures manova revealed that those in the time perspective modification intervention condition showed significant reductions in psychache and hopelessness at 1 month, relative to those in the control condition. Repeated-measures manovas did not reveal significantly greater changes in depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, or future time perspective. No results at 6 months were found to be significant. These results suggest that a future time perspective modification intervention can reduce important predictors of suicidality, although the sustainability of these gains and their relation to suicide is unclear. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2011-08-29 13:29:07.463

This dissertation draws attention to the interaction between insurgents and the target state as the appropriate context for explaining the motivations of suicide bombers, the rationales of the organizations that support them, and the popularity in certain societies of suicide bombing. Based mainly on data collected from 88 interviews conducted in 2006 with senior leaders of six Palestinian political organizations and close relatives and friends of a 25 percent representative sample of Palestinian suicide bombers during the second intifada, it demonstrates the following: (1) During the second intifada, changes in the political opportunity structure, especially extreme state repression, were chiefly responsible for growing public support for suicide bombing, the development of organizational rationales justifying suicide bombing, and the crystallization of suicide bombers’ motivation to act. State repression produced a widespread desire for revenge at all levels of Palestinian society. (2) Cultural forces, notably the growing popularity of fundamentalist Islam and its embodiment in the political culture of certain militant organizations, were of secondary importance in causing the spread of suicide bombing. (3) Strategic calculations (“rational choice”) aimed at speeding the liberation of occupied territory were of tertiary importance in motivating suicide bombers but they figured more prominently at the level of organizational rationales. (4) While the literature often invokes creative agency, psychopathology, and material deprivation to explain the rise of suicide bombing, little or no effect was discovered for these variables.

The suicide of a loved one is a traumatic life event that brings considerable emotional suffering. In the present study, the term suicide survivor refers to an individual bereaved though suicide. In the aftermath of their loss, some suicide survivors become peer counsellors and thereby draw on their painful experiences to provide assistance to others bereaved in this manner. Although these individuals play an important supportive role, little is known about their experiences with doing this kind of volunteer work. This study sought to explore the phenomenon of peer counselling in suicide bereavement by addressing the question, what are the lived experiences of suicide survivors who become peer counsellors? The purpose of the study was to understand how these individuals conceptualize their volunteer work and how their volunteerism may affect their own ongoing healing from the loss to suicide. Participants were 15 individuals bereaved through suicide who had been volunteering with others bereaved in the same manner for at least two years. This research employed a qualitative phenomenological methodology to provide a detailed description of participants’ journeys that went from experiencing the suicide of a loved one, to the decision to become a peer counsellor, to, finally, providing support to other survivors. The findings suggest that participants understand the provision of peer counselling as a transformative process. As a result of their volunteering, they undergo personal growth and acquire new skills. They conceptualize providing peer counselling as reaching out to other survivors of suicide and thereby countering the loneliness and isolation of suicide bereavement. For the participants, being a peer counsellor means actively challenging the silence around suicide by speaking out about suicide-related issues and offering other survivors a safe space to share their stories. The broader implications of these findings for suicide postvention research and clinical practice are addressed.

The current study tested a component of the social disconnection model (Hewitt, Flett, Sherry, & Caelian, 2006) by determining whether the interpersonal components of perfectionism and suicide outcomes in youth are mediated by experiences of being bullied, a marker of social disconnection. The perfectionism trait of socially prescribed perfectionism and the perfectionistic self-presentation facets, suicide outcomes, and experiences of being bullied were measured in a heterogeneous sample of 152 psychiatric outpatient youth, aged 8 to 20 (mean = 12.87, SD = 2.97; 83 males, 69 females). The current study found evidence in support of the social disconnection model whereby the perfectionistic self-presentation facet, nondisplay of imperfection, and suicide outcomes were mediated by experiences of being bullied. Implications of self presentational components of perfectionism and social disconnection in suicide outcomes for youth are discussed, in terms of both their conceptual and clinical significance.

Introduction. Recent studies have suggested a secular increase in the prevalence of self-harm, suicidal ideation and depression in young people. This study aims to report the changes in prevalence of psychological disturbance over time in a clinic population. Method: Data on the prevalence of psychological symptoms was measured by the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), in a 21-year clinic cohort of adolescents aged from 12 to 17. This data was analysed to investigate secular changes and predictors of disorder. Results: Significant secular increases were demonstrated in parent reports of self-harm and suicidal ideation, of 5percent and 4percent per cohort year respectively, but there was no significant change in the anxious/depressed sub-scale. There were no changes demonstrated in self-reports of self-harm, suicidal ideation or anxiety/depression. Self-harm and suicidal ideation, both parent reported and self-reported, significantly increased with increasing age, female gender, drug use, anxiety/depression and other clinically significant scores on the YSR and CBCL sub-scales. The YSR was a more accurate predictor of both self-harm and suicidal ideation than the CBCL. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that there has not been a significant increase in psychological disorder in this population. There was, however, an apparent increase due to increasing parental awareness of some symptoms, particularly self-harm and suicidal ideation. While parents have a higher rate of reporting disorder, young people's self-reports remain a more accurate predictor of specific symptoms, including self-harm and suicidal ideation.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-211). Also available via World Wide Web.