Writing projects: lessening undergraduates' unique suicidal bereavement.

To assess if writing projects lessen undergraduates' grief following a loved one's suicide, 40 students whose loved one died by suicide in the past 2 years wrote on four occasions over 2 weeks about profound topics (e.g., events and emotions surrounding the death) or trivial topics (e.g., description of the previous meal). All participants completed pre- and posttest measures of grief and self-reported health visits, and 75% completed the same measures at 6-week mailed follow-up. As expected, individuals in the profound condition reported less grief associated with suicide at follow-up than those in the trivial condition. However, the trivial and profound groups were not significantly different in general grief or health visits. Writing about grief associated with the suicide of a loved one appeared to reduce suicidal grief associated with this event. However, this benefit did not extend to general grief or physical health.

Gender, culture, and suicidal behavior: a feminist critique of theories and research.

Suicide research has developed historically from philosophical roots in logical positivism and structural determinism. Thus, much suicide research has been based on assumptions of cause-and-effect relationships, reductionistic analysis, and the individual as the primary unit of analysis. In counterpoint, six guiding themes define feminist research (Worell & Etaugh, 1994). The present manuscript traces these six themes, illustrating them with suicide research projects. By challenging scientific tradition, focusing on women, considering power, recognizing gender constructs, maintaining awareness of the power of language, and promoting active, practical applications, researchers can combine traditional and alternative methodologies to make suicide research more robust.

Does suicidal history enhance acceptance of other suicidal individuals?

Suicide is stigmatized, so suicidal people may be especially hard to accept. To see if moderately suicidal outpatients were more accepting of a suicidal person than never-suicidal or severely suicide outpatients, 105 respondents completed measures of suicidality, depression, acceptance, and empathy. A curvilinear ANCOVA was nonsignificant, but a linear ANCOVA significantly adjusted for depression, and indicated, unexpectedly, that net of depression, never-suicidal people were more accepting of a suicidal person than moderately or severely suicidal people. Empathy and acceptance were moderately related. An implication is that social support for suicidal individuals might best be obtained from those who were never suicidal themselves.

Perception of behavioral contagion of adolescent suicide.

In order to assess perceptions of behavioral contagion of suicide (what people thought a disturbed adolescent would do if the teen knew about a suicide in the community), and to assess actor-observer differences in such perceptions, 142 college students were asked to view a videotaped vignette of a distressed high school student, and then to assess her potential for committing suicide, running away, entering therapy, or abusing alcohol. Subjects who were told that the teenager knew of two recent suicides in the community (contagion group) rated the young woman as more likely to commit suicide or run away than did the subjects who were not told of the suicides (noncontagion group). Subjects who were instructed to imagine that they were the teenager (actors) blamed situational factors, and in particular the teen's parents, more for her distress than did subjects who were instructed just to rate the teenager on the videotape (observers). Contagion/actors rated suicide as more likely than did any other group. Apparently, people believe that behavioral contagion occurs when a suicide is reported, and they especially perceive themselves to be influenced by such information.

Clinicians' attitudes toward no-suicide agreements.

Though no-suicide agreements are widely used and often recommended for suicidal patients, their sparse empirical support leads to questions regarding their use with patients of various ages. To answer this question, 46 licensed psychologist members of a Southern state psychology association answered questions regarding their beliefs and attitudes about no-suicide agreements. Such agreements were considered more appropriate for adults or adolescents than children. They were judged highly appropriate with moderately suicidal patients and were expected to help patients postpone suicide until after a crisis had past and to help reduce clinicians' anxiety.

The escape theory of suicide in college students: testing a model that includes perfectionism.

A model of the escape theory of suicide was tested, using the following measures: the Life Experiences Survey, the Socially Prescribed Perfectionism subscale, the Self-Rating Depression Scale, the Hopelessness Scale, the Reasons for Living Inventory, and the Scale for Suicide Ideation. College students (N = 114) completed all of these measures, and results were correlated. LISREL path analysis failed to validate the proposed model. All proposed paths were significant, except for the reciprocal path proposed between negative life events and socially prescribed perfectionism. Two residual paths were also significant: from socially prescribed perfectionism to suicide ideation, and from hopelessness to suicide ideation. A revised model constructed from these significant paths had a good overall fit, which suggests that an interactional model is more appropriate than a linear one.

Mood influences on reasons for living in older adolescents.

Suicide is a major public health problem of the current period, particularly among young people, and is the second leading cause of death among the 15- to 24-year-old age group (Rudd 1989). Moreover, the suicide rate among the nation's youth has increased dramatically in the last two decades, an increase that amounts to having tripled in the years 1956 to 1975 (Holinger 1982).

Childhood sexual abuse and current suicidality in college women and men.

In previous research, adults who reported childhood sexual abuse have been more suicidal than nonabused adults, but no research has examined their cognitive deterrents to suicide. Strict definitions of sexual abuse in these studies have excluded (a) unwanted sexual experiences with peers, and (b) exploitive experiences not involving genital contact (i.e., unwanted sexual invitations or suggestions, unwanted exposure to others' genitals via exhibitionism, unwanted kissing or hugging in a sexual way). The present study compared suicidal behavior and cognitive deterrents to suicide in 266 college students using both a strict and a liberal definition of sexual abuse. Both women and men abused by adults or peers were more suicidal as adult college students than were women and men with no such history. Women reported similar degrees of suicidality as men, but greater survival and coping beliefs and more fear of suicide. Those whose sexual abuse involved touching were more suicidal, and felt less able to cope, and less responsibility for their families, than nonabused adults. Implications are that adults who experienced childhood sexual abuse that involved touching are more suicidal and have less cognitive deterrents to suicide than adults who have not, regardless of whether they are men or women or whether they were abused by adults or by peers.

Type and severity of child abuse and college students' lifetime suicidality.

OBJECTIVE: The present study compared reported histories and severity of child sexual abuse, child physical abuse, and both, in college men and women. METHOD: Four hundred and eighty-six consenting undergraduates completed measures of suicidality, sexual abuse (SA), and physical abuse (PA). Based on their responses, they were categorized into 12 mutually exclusive groups: no PA/no SA (n = 234), moderate PA/no SA (n = 78), severe PA/no SA (n = 34), no PA/mild SA (n = 21), moderate PA/mild SA (n = 12), severe PA/mild SA (n = 5), no PA/moderate SA (n = 20), moderate PA/moderate SA (n = 15), and severe PA/moderate SA (n = 10). RESULTS: Participants who reported both severe sexual and severe physical abuse reported more lifetime suicidality than participants who reported either mild sexual and/or physical abuse. Those who reported sexual abuse involving invasive sexual acts such as rape, and physical abuse involving behaviors that resulted in physical injury to the child, were more suicidal than those who reported less severe abuse. In addition, although combined sexual and physical abuse correlated with increased suicidality, unexpectedly, there was no interaction. Finally, women students endorsed more reasons for living than men and about the same level of suicidal ideas and global suicidality, despite a greater likelihood of having been abused. CONCLUSIONS: The absence of an interaction between sexual and physical abuse suggests that this increased suicidality is additive rather than multiplicative. An implication is that college counseling personnel need to be aware of the suicidal risk of women and men students reporting either sexual or physical abuse.

Suicidality in college women who were sexually and physically abused and physically punished by parents.

In order to ascertain if physically abused, sexually abused, physically punished, and nonabused/nonpunished women students reported different levels of suicidality, 182 women completed measures of suicidality, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and physical punishment. Women who reported sexual abuse were more suicidal than all other groups, and those physically abused were more suicidal than those nonabused/nonpunished. In a multiple regression, sexual abuse accounted for the most variance in suicidality (15%). Apparently women who report sexual or physical abuse, but not ordinary physical punishment alone, are at greater risk for suicide.

Life satisfaction and death anxiety in elderly nursing home and public housing residents.

To compare life satisfaction and death anxiety in older adults, 30 elderly residents of a public housing apartment complex and 20 nursing home residents completed the Death Anxiety Scale, the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale, and a structured interview. Nursing home residents more frequently reported that in five years they expected to be dead, whereas public housing residents more frequently reported that in five years they would be doing about the same thing or nothing. The two groups did not differ on their reported death anxiety or life satisfaction. However, across both groups, those reporting higher life satisfaction also reported lower death anxiety and a more positive attitude toward growing older. It appears that, for the elderly individuals in this study, place of residence was not related to their expression of life satisfaction or death anxiety.

The false consensus bias as applied to psychologically disturbed adolescents.

In order to examine whether the false consensus bias applied to psychologically disturbed adolescents, outpatients at a rural mental health center who described themselves as very depressed or suicidal, and nondisturbed teenagers (who had no history of psychological treatment and were not at that time seeking psychological treatment), were asked to read a newspaper article about either a child's suicidal or viral illness death. Both groups of adolescents, like adults in previous research, viewed the suicidal child and the surviving family more negatively than they did the child and survivors of a viral illness death. Further, consistent with the false consensus hypothesis, adolescent clients viewed either child as more psychologically disturbed than did nonclients. Also, clients, as compared to nonclients, viewed both parents as more psychologically disturbed prior to either child's death. Results somewhat support the hypothesis of a false consensus bias which operates for depressed, suicidal adolescents when they view the tragedy of a child's death, but not when they are making recommendations about psychological help for the surviving family. Results are interpreted as suggesting that adolescent outpatients either view therapy as not particularly beneficial or as not particularly appropriate for bereaved individuals.

Hope, hopelessness, and suicidality in college students.

To estimate the associations among measures of hope, hopelessness, and suicidality, 206 undergraduates completed the Reasons for Living Inventory, the Hopelessness Scale, and the Hope Scale. As expected, significant correlations indicated that, as hope increased, hopelessness decreased. Those who scored as relatively more suicidal had relatively fewer feelings of total hope (Agency and Pathways) and more hopelessness. Further, scores on three Reasons for Living scales (Coping Beliefs, Family Responsibility, and Child Concerns) were significantly correlated in expected directions with hope and hopelessness scores. A stepwise multiple regression indicated that scores on Survival, Coping Beliefs and the Hope subscale Agency accounted for 37% of the total variance in suicidality. Apparently in unscreened college students, survival and coping beliefs and hope rather than hopelessness or other reasons for living are most related to suicidality. An implication is that facilitating college students' hopefulness may bolster their survival and coping beliefs and discourage development of suicidal thoughts or actions.

Community responses following suicide, homicide, and other deaths: the perspective of potential comforters.

To determine whether actual responses of potential comforters in the community differ according to cause of death, 83 college students participated in a structured, individual interview. They were asked demographic questions about themselves, the bereaved, and the deceased, and then about various aspects of how they, and others in the community, responded to the death. Students were grouped by their reports of the cause of death (suicide, homicide, accident, natural anticipated death, or natural unanticipated death). When the death was by suicide or homicide, others were perceived as relatively less supportive of the bereaved person. When the death was by suicide, respondents themselves tended more to blame the bereaved person. When the death was by homicide, the bereaved person was perceived as reacting relatively worse. Potential comforters were relatively more shocked when the death was by homicide or accident.

Cultural and emotional components of loneliness and depression.

The relation between loneliness and depression and the distinction between emotional and social loneliness were examined by administering the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale, the Belcher Extended Loneliness Scale (BELS), the Beck Depression Inventory, and self-report questions about social and emotional loneliness to the following four groups: foreign (Chinese-descent) students in American universities, Chinese students in Taiwanese universities, American students in American universities, and depressed American clients. Depressed clients reported not only more depression but also more overall loneliness than did any of the other groups; they also were more likely to report emotional loneliness or both emotional and social loneliness than were the other three groups. Foreign students, in contrast, reported more social loneliness than did Taiwanese students. Results substantiate the view that loneliness is not a unitary concept and suggest that the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the BELS emphasize emotional rather than social loneliness and that emotional loneliness is a greater component of depression than is social loneliness.

Gestalt dialogues as a treatment for mild depression: time works just as well.

In a treatment analogue design, 44 moderately depressed volunteer subjects were divided randomly into four groups: attention-placebo; Gestalt empty chair dialogues designed to be personally relevant and high in affect; dialogues designed to be personally irrelevant and neutral in affect; and groups in which strong affect was encouraged, but no dialogues enacted. Groups met 1 hour per week for 4 weeks. Each group was pretested, post-tested, and follow-up tested with an abbreviated MMPI, the Depression Adjective Check List, and experimenter questionnaires. A series of 4 X 3 ANOVAs indicated significant main effects for time across all dependent variables. Also, anxiety and social introversion decreased over time in all groups. No other main or interactional effects were significant. These results suggest that mild depression, as well as anxiety and social introversion, dissipated over time and remained lower regardless of whether the subject had any treatment.

Reasons for living and coping abilities among older adults.

Older adults have successfully resisted inclinations to commit suicide; however, little research has focused on their ability to cope or their reasons for living. In the present study, seventy-nine (fifty-five women, twenty-two men, two unknown) older adults (M = 60.6 years) recruited from churches, retirement groups (n = 22), and relatives of college psychology students (n = 57), completed the Reasons for Living and the Cope inventories. Overall coping was significantly positively correlated with total reasons for living, r(78) = .19, p < .05, although the low correlation suggests that the constructs are moderately unique. Further, coping was positively correlated with two RFL subscales, Survival and Coping Beliefs, r(78) = .27, p < .01, and Child-Related Concerns, r(78) = .28, p < .01. Women were higher than men in total reasons for living, t(75) = 2.16, p < .05, but not significantly different in coping abilities. Older women may underrate their ability to cope. An implication is that suicide prevention strategies should target men and bolster their cognitive deterrents to suicide.

Family environment, attitudes toward life and death, depression, and suicidality in elementary-school children.

This study examines whether perception of family environment, attitudes toward life and death, and depression predict suicidality in elementary-school children. Seventy-eight participants ages 8 to 13 recruited through an elementary school and a university were assessed for attitudes toward life and death, depression, suicidality, and family environment. A regression equation indicated that depression and attraction to life were the only variables accounting for variance in suicidality (49%). Family environment variables were moderately correlated with depression, indicating that family environment may play a role in the development and maintenance of depression, of which suicidality is a symptom. Concurrent treatment of family issues may not only ameliorate children's symptoms, but also provide a critical sense of support that may decrease the likelihood that these children will become suicidal in the future.