Can Personality Predict Suicidality? A Study in Two Cultures

Abstract

Kuwaiti (n = 460) and American (n = 273) undergraduates responded to seven questionnaires in Arabic and English, respectively. It was found that Kuwaiti students attained significantly higher total mean scores on ego-grasping orientation (anti-Taoist orientation), death obsession, pessimism, obsession-compulsion and anxiety scales than the American students, while the latter group had a significantly high mean score on an optimism scale. There were no significant differences between the groups in suicidal ideation. Almost all the Pearson inter-correlations between these scales were significant and positive, except that those between the scale scores and optimism scores were negative. The unrotated factor was bipolar, clear and high-loaded, labeled “Negative affect versus optimism”. Multiple regression revealed that the best predictors of suicidal ideation were pessimism, death obsession and anxiety in the Kuwaiti students, while they were optimism (negatively), anxiety, pessimism, death obsession and male sex in the American students, respectively. The other scales did not contribute significantly to the prediction of suicidal ideation.