Lifetime suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in Asian Americans.

Abstract

Few studies have examined the role of culturally relevant factors in suicidal behavior among Asian Americans. Using the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS) (Alegria et al., 2004;Heeringa et al., 2004), the current study examined the role of culturally related variables (family conflict, perceived discrimination, and ethnic identity) on suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in a nationally representative sample of 2,095 Asian Americans. Important covariates were sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, marital status, years of education, household poverty, and nativity status), depressive and anxiety disorders, and number of chronic conditions. Gender related correlates were also explored. The lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts was 8.8% and 2.5%, respectively. Female gender, family conflict, perceived discrimination, and the presence of lifetime depressive or anxiety disorders were positively correlated with suicidal ideation and attempts. A high level of identification with one's ethnic group was associated with lower rates of suicide attempts. Among Asian men, but not women, the presence of chronic medical conditions was associated with suicidal ideation. Findings highlight the contributions to suicide risk of cultural factors and gender differences in Asian Americans. Keywordssuicide; family conflict; discrimination; ethnic identity; Asian Americans Understanding risk factors for suicide is the first step in developing suicide prevention and intervention strategies for Asian Americans. Although Asian Americans are one of the most Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Janice Ka Yan Cheng, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616. jancheng@ucdavis.edu. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptAsian Am J Psychol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 October 13. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript rapidly growing ethnic groups in the United States, few empirical studies on suicide have been conducted on this population. It has been argued that Western theories and findings of suicide may not be generalizable to ethnic minorities in general and Asian Americans in particular. Leenaars (2008) and Lester (2008) highlighted the need for understanding suicide beyond the factors at the individual level. In recent years, researchers have proposed the use of the ecological model for understanding suicide, which emphasizes that behaviors are influenced by the interplay of individual, interpersonal, social, and cultural levels (Bronfrenbrenner, 1979). The model was first applied to understand child abuse, and most recently, it has been effectively applied to the study of suicide in Latina youths and African American adults (Kaslow et al., 2005;Zayas, Lester, Cabassa, & Fortuna, 2005). Demographic characteristics and psychopathology may contribute to suicidal behavior, but behaviors can also be influenced by interpersonal relationships in specific settings (e.g., fam...

Gender-Specific Factors Associated with Suicide Attempts among the Community-Dwelling General Population with Suicidal Ideation: the 2013 Korean Community Health Survey

“…The suicide mortality per 100,000 persons in Korea increases with age from 4.5 deaths in those between the ages of 10 and 19 years to 78.6 deaths among those 80 years and over (1). Although a few studies have found no association between age and suicide attempts (8,11), many studies have reported that suicide attempts are predicted by a younger age (5,6,12,15). In this study, we found that suicide attempts were predicted by a younger age in both males and females, suggesting that younger age is a potent predictor of suicide attempts in both genders.…”

“…However, previous findings regarding the association between gender and suicide attempts have been inconsistent; some studies found that females have a greater risk for lifetime suicide attempts compared with males (5,6,8,10), while others found that gender was not associated with suicide attempts (7,(11)(12)(13)15). Until now, the association between gender and suicide attempts had not been determined in Korea, although gender was not significantly associated with suicide attempts in this study (data not shown).…”

“…Although many risk factors for suicide attempts have been identified (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15), more effective intervention strategies for mental health and suicide prevention can be developed when the gender-specific underlying risk factors for suicide attempts are better understood (16). To our knowledge, however, few studies have examined gender-specific risk factors for suicide attempts in a large general population.…”

From Relaxation Response, Building Power for Health to an Advanced Self-Cultivation Practice: Genuine Well-Being

“…After evidence-based research from different Institutes provided the results indicating the benefits of mind-body intervention for some health issues (cardiovascular and neuromuscular conditions) [20][21][22][23][24][25][26], or psychological conditions (including depression) [27][28][29][30][31][32], investigators in one of them demonstrate in pilot studies that the RR-based group intervention, and other modalities (i.e., tai chi, Qigong, mindfulness training) have effect on treating mild and moderate depression symptoms [33][34][35] and maybe regarded as adjunctive treatment for other conditions. Their efforts also have been added into the processing of number increasing of studies [36][37][38] from different continents of the world showing the promise of multimodal mind-body group interventions for patients with depression.…”

Identidad étnica e ideación suicida en adolescentes indígenas

“…Esto hace pensar que la identidad étnica positiva podría actuar como un regulador importante en la no aparición de depresión e ideación suicida, especialmente en adolescentes, al encontrarse éstos mejor equipados para contrastar los efectos negativos del estrés aculturativo y la discriminación. 6 En el mismo sentido, los jóvenes de minorías con fuertes identidades étnicas relacionadas con su cultura de origen muestran una disminución en los casos de suicidio e ideación suicida; 7 por el contrario, hay evidencia de que el estrés provocado por el proceso de aculturación puede ser un factor de riesgo para la ideación suicida. 8 El estrés aculturativo puede incluir variables como la discriminación, la falta de comprensión del lenguaje, nivel socioeconómico bajo, conapoyo.…”