Many risk factors have been put forward to account for the significant increase in
adolescent male suicide over the last 20 years, and the pronounced sex difference in
suicide statistics. In particular, hopelessness has been shown to be a strong indicator
of suicidality. This study investigated the relationship of gender role, stress, and
coping to hopelessness in a normal adolescent population. It was hypothesized that
stress, coping and a masculine gender role would contribute to hopelessness. 288
adolescent students between the ages of 15 and 18 were surveyed using the
Adolescent Stress Scale, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, the Australian Sex Role Scale, and the Adolescent Coping Scale. Contrary to expectation, having a masculine gender
role was not related to hopelessness; students with an undifferentiated gender role had
higher levels of hopelessness than androgynous, masculine, and feminine students.
However, the majority of students who had an undifferentiated gender role were male.
Hopelessness was also associated with high levels of stress and the use of avoidance
coping strategies. The results are discussed within the transactional stress model and
the stress-diathesis model.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218766 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Bromhead, David, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Teacher Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright David Bromhead |
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