Suicidal Behavior and Psychological Distress in University Students: A 12-nation Study

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Arabia, and to some extent in Turkey, reduced ORs were observed for Austria, China, Italy, Japan and the USA. Elevated ORs for psychological distress were seen in Japan, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey but reduced ORs were noted in Austria, China, Iran, Italy and the USA. Psychological distress was strongly associated with reports of suicide ideation and attempts. Suicide ideation, suicide attempt and psychological distress are common in university students but their rates vary depending on the sociocultural context. Permanent repository linkDue attention should be devoted to the mental health needs of young adults enrolled in higher educational institutions and more cross-cultural research is warranted to better understand the etiology of the observed intersocietal variations in suicidal behavior and psychological distress.

Pilot evaluation of a web‐based acceptance and commitment therapy program to promote mental health skills in university students

“…The prevalence of mild to extremely severe levels of distress in the present sample (48.5–58.5%) is similar to that (51.1–83.9%) of large‐scale studies of university students (Eskin et al., ; Stallman, ). Of specific concern are students falling within the mild to moderate categories, as these distress levels are predictive of future clinically significant mental health problems (Kessler et al., ).…”

Nursing students' attitudes to suicide and suicidal persons: A cross‐national and cultural comparison between Turkey and the United Kingdom

“…There is an increasing international interest in collaborative studies which focus on comparing students' attitudes, their prior experiences, judgements, perceptions of suicide, religiosity and cultural differences (Eskin, Kujan, et al., ; Eskin, Sun, et al., ; Eskin et al., , 2018). Three authors of these papers (LP, ME and CF) have contributed to this emerging body of work derived from 12 nations.…”

“…This scale has a five‐point Likert‐type response options ranging from “Completely disagree (1)” to “Completely agree (5).” A principle component analysis identified six factors: (1) Acceptability of suicide (sample item: Someone who has gone bankrupt has the right to kill him/herself); (2) Communicating psychological problems (sample item: People should tell their psychological problems to their friends); (3) Punishment after death (sample item: People who attempt suicide are going to be punished in the other world); (4) Suicide as a sign of mental illness (sample item: People who kill themselves by committing suicide are mentally ill); (5) Hiding suicidal behaviour (sample item: Families whose daughter or son attempts suicide should hide this from their neighbours); and (6) Open reporting and discussion of suicide (sample item: Suicide news should be written openly in the newspapers) that explained 76.97% of the total variance. This scale is validated both in English language and in Turkish language and is cited within a number of peer review publications (Eskin, ; Eskin et al., , ; Eskin, Kujan, et al., ; Eskin, Sun, et al., ).…”

“…Eskin's Social Reactions to Suicidal Persons Scale (E‐SRSPS) begins with a short description of “an imagined suicidal close friend” who decides to kill himself/herself and share it with the respondent. By means of 20 possible reactions to this friend, students were asked how they would react or feel on five‐point Likert scales ranging from “Completely disagree (1)” to “Completely agree (5)” (Eskin, ; Eskin et al., , ; Eskin, Kujan, et al., ; Eskin, Sun, et al., ). A principle component analysis identified four factors: (1) Social acceptance, sample item: If I was going to a movie or theatre I would ask if s/he wants to come along); (2) Disapproval of suicidal disclosure, sample item: I would be surprised that she/he revealed things that one usually does not; (3) Confronting attitudes, sample item: I would get angry with him/her because she/he had decided to take his/her life; and (4) Deterring attitudes, sample item: I would try to prevent him/her from taking his/her life) that explained 65.94% of the total variance.…”

“…Higher scores indicate more negative attitudes towards individuals with suicidal behaviour (Eskin, ; Eskin et al., ). Again this subscale is valid both in English language and in Turkish language (Eskin, ; Eskin et al., , ; Eskin, Kujan, et al., ; Eskin, Sun, et al., ).…”