Hopelessness and Suicide Proneness in U.S. and Japanese College Students

Abstract

Few empirical studies have focused on the associations among suicide proneness, hopelessness, and depression cross-culturally. The current study examined the potential to determine differences in the overall expression of suicide proneness between Japanese (n = 396) as compared with U.S. (n = 417) college students. Depressive symptoms were considered as a potential mediator of the relation between hopelessness and suicide proneness in both samples of students. Preliminary analyses focused on estimates of internal consistency reliability and differential item functioning (DIF) on the measures of hopelessness, depressive symptoms, and suicide proneness. Results of the primary analyses revealed that Japanese students reported more suicide proneness, greater hopelessness, and higher levels of depressive symptoms than did U.S. students. As expected, hopelessness and depressive symptoms were significantly associated with suicide proneness in both cultures. Additionally, the hopelessness-suicide proneness link was significantly mediated by depressive symptoms in both samples. Implications are offered for improved identification and treatment of college students at risk of suicidal behaviors both in the United States and in Japan.

Suicide Proneness in American and Japanese College Students: Associations with Suicide Acceptability and Emotional Expressivity

“…In a preliminary study from the present data, total suicide proneness scores were elevated in Japanese as compared to American college students (Lamis, Saito, Klibert, Malone, & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2013). The current study extends these findings by examining culture and gender differences among the four disparate suicide proneness behaviors.…”

Intrinsic and extrinsic goals as moderators of stress and depressive symptoms in Chinese undergraduate students: A multi-wave longitudinal study

“…Surveys conducted in the Chinese population have indicated that the prevalence of depressive symptoms among young Chinese undergraduate students ranges from 11.7 to 22.9 % [ 4 , 6 ]. Depression in undergraduate students has been recognized as a major problem, as depressive symptoms are associated closely with suicidal behavior, substance abuse, college dropout, loss of academic productivity and antisocial behavior in this critical period of human development [ 7 , 8 ]. Depression at college age also has a significant economic impact over the life course and serious consequences for later occupational trajectories [ 9 ].…”

The Relationship between the Instructors’ Organizational Justice Perceptions and Their Hopelessness Levels

“…Clinic studies show that as the complaints and depressive symptoms of the patients increase, their hopelessness increases in the same way. Sciences, 2017, 9 (2), 323 -339 326 When the studies conducted on hopelessness in educational organizations are analyzed, it can be understood that these studies were done especially on teenagers having education (Alverson, 2014;Hoy and Tarter, 2004;Kula, 2008; Siyahhan, Aricak and Acar, 2012), university students (Asdigian, 1993;Kılıç, Tektaş and Pala, 2014;Stockum, 1999;Lamis, Saito, Osman, Klibert, Malone and Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2014;Üngüren, 2007), preservice teachers (Ceyhan, 2004;Dinçer, Yılmaz and Keşan, 2015;Öngen, 2012;Şahin, 2009;Şengül, Güner and Altın, 2014) and teachers (Kiziroğlu, 2012;Taner, 2008;Yıldırım, 2015). Of the studies conducted in the field of education, for example, the results of the study by Üngüren (2007) on 496 tourism students having education at high schools and universities put forth a positive significant relationship between hopelessness and anxiety and it was concluded that as the anxiety levels of the students increase, their hopelessness levels increase, too.…”