Suicidal Asian American College Students' Perceptions of Protective Factors: A Qualitative Study.

This study addresses the paucity of knowledge on protective factors associated with Asian American college students' suicidal behavior. Participants were 58 Asian American college students who seriously considered suicide within the past 12 months and responded to open-ended online survey questions about what was helpful during their suicide crisis. A phenomenological analysis of participants' narratives revealed the following protective factors: (a) a desire not to hurt or burden others, (b) social support, (c) fear, (d) self-reliance, and (e) insight. These findings can guide culturally informed clinical interventions by mental health professionals.

Asian American college students' suicide ideation: a mixed-methods study.

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the phenomenon of suicide ideation among 293 Asian American college students. Guided by T. Joiner's (2005) interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior, the authors examined the relationships among perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, self-construals, and suicide ideation. Compared with thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness was a more robust predictor of suicide ideation. However, thwarted belongingness moderated the positive association between perceived burdensomeness and suicide ideation. Furthermore, interdependent self-construal and independent self-construal both weakened the link between perceived burdensomeness and suicide ideation and between thwarted belongingness and suicide ideation. The authors also conducted a qualitative analysis of participants' open-ended responses about their perceptions of why Asian American college students might consider suicide. The authors identified a core phenomenon of unfulfilled expectations as well as 2 broad themes related to this core phenomenon: unfulfilled intrapersonal expectations and unfulfilled interpersonal expectations, comprising the subthemes of (a) family, (b) relationship, (c) cultural differences, and (d) racism. These findings are discussed in terms of implications for suicide-related clinical interventions and primary prevention efforts among Asian American college students.

Asian Americans' adherence to Asian values, attributions about depression, and coping strategies.

Using Brickman et al.'s (1982) theoretical framework of responsibility attributions, the authors examined the relationships among adherence to Asian values, attributions about the cause of and solution to depression, and preferred coping strategies in a nonclinical sample of Asian Americans. Results of a path analysis (N = 238) indicate that attribution of cause fully mediated the relations between adherence to Asian values and use of coping strategies. Adherence to Asian values was positively related to attributing the cause of depression to internal factors, which was in turn associated with greater use of disengagement coping strategies and decreased use of engagement coping strategies. In addition, an internal attribution for the solution to depressive symptoms was related to more reliance on engagement coping strategies and a lower use of disengagement coping strategies. Practical implications of the results are discussed.

Asian Americans' lay beliefs about depression and professional help seeking.

Guided by a culturally informed illness representation self-regulation model (CIRSRM), this study analyzed the relations among 223 Asian Americans' lay beliefs about depression, enculturation to Asian values, and their likelihood of seeking professional help for depression. Participants' lay beliefs were assessed through an analysis of written responses to open-ended questions about depression. Enculturation as well as beliefs in biological causes, situational causes, and a short duration of depression were significantly related to the likelihood of professional help seeking. In addition, enculturation moderated the association between several lay beliefs and the endorsement of professional help seeking. The findings are discussed in light of how clinicians can incorporate mental illness lay beliefs in their work with Asian Americans.

Black-White Disparities in Criminal Justice Referrals to Drug Treatment: Addressing Treatment Need or Expanding the Diagnostic Net?

Slightly more than half of admissions to U.S. publicly-funded treatment for marijuana use are referred by the criminal justice system; this pattern has remained for at least 20 years. Nationally, Blacks comprise nearly a third of treatment admissions for marijuana use. This article explores the interplay between race and criminal justice referrals to treatment for marijuana use. Using data from the (U.S.) 2011 Treatment Episode Data Set, we examine the relationship between race and diagnosis of cannabis use disorder (dependence versus abuse) among referrals to community-based treatment in North Carolina. We compare Black/White differences in cannabis diagnoses across four referral sources: the criminal justice system, healthcare providers, self, and other sources. Race was significantly related to type of diagnosis across all four referral sources, however, the nature of the relationship was distinctly different among criminal justice referrals with Whites being more likely than Blacks to be diagnosed with cannabis dependence. Moreover, the marijuana use profiles of criminal justice referrals differed substantially from individuals referred by other sources. The findings suggest that diagnoses of cannabis abuse (rather than dependence) may have worked to widen the diagnostic net by "capturing" individuals under control of the criminal justice system who manifested few problems with marijuana use, other than their involvement in the criminal justice system. The potential for a net-widening effect appeared to be most pronounced for Blacks.

Examining suicide protective factors among black college students.

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the nascent literature on resilience and suicidality among Black Americans by examining factors that may predict less suicidal behavior among this population. The authors hypothesized that reasons for living, life satisfaction, and religious awareness would account for unique variance in suicidal thoughts and behavior among Black Americans, above the variance accounted for by depressive symptoms. They also hypothesized that reasons for living and religious awareness would be stronger inverse predictors among Black women than Black men. Results indicated that both depression and life satisfaction were stronger predictors of suicidal behavior among Black men. Among women, only reasons for living was a significant inverse predictor of suicidal thoughts and behavior. More frequent reasons for living moderated the relationship between depression and suicidal thoughts and behavior among Black women.

Reasons for living, social support, and Afrocentric worldview: assessing buffering factors related to Black Americans' suicidal behavior.

This study utilized an ecological framework to explore the role of 4 culturally relevant protective factors-reasons for living, Afrocentric worldview, family support, and friend support-in protecting Black American college students from suicidal behavior. Participants were 289 Black American college students. We hypothesized that these 4 culturally relevant factors would exert indirect protective effects on suicidal behavior through their association with reduced depressive symptoms. Results indicated that reasons for living, perceived supportive behaviors from family, and Afrocentric worldview exerted indirect protective effects on suicidal behaviors through their negative associations with depressive symptoms. The mediation effect from friend support to depression and suicidal behavior was not significant.