The role of ruminative coping and gender as potential moderators of cultural differences in suicide ideation among 194 college students from Ghana and the United States were studied. Participants completed the Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire and the Rumination scale of the Response Style Questionnaire. Significant main effects for cultural group and gender were found for suicide ideation. Furthermore, gender and rumination together accounted for significant portions of the variance in suicide ideation scores. Implications for future research are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Assimeng, M. (1981). Social structure of Ghana: A study in persistence and change. Tema, Ghana: Ghana Publishing Corporation.
2.
Beck, A. T., Lester, D., & Kovacs, M. (1973). Attempted suicide by males and females. Psychological Reports, 33, 965-966.
3.
Blumenthal, S. J. (1990). Youth suicide: Risk factors, assessment, and treatment of adolescents and young adult suicidal patients. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 131, 511-556.
4.
Buddeberg, C., Buddeberg-Fischer, B., Gnam, G., Schmid, J., & Christen, S. (1996). Suicidal behavior in Swiss students: An 18-month follow-up. Crisis, 17(2), 78-86.
5.
Canetto, S. S. (1994). Gender issues in the treatment of suicidal individuals. Death Studies, 18(3), 13-27.
6.
Crosby, A. E., Cheltenham, M. P., & Sacks, J. J. (1999). Incidence of suicidal ideation and behavior in the United States, 1994. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 29(2), 131-140.
7.
Eshun, S. (1999). Cultural variations in hopelessness, optimism, and suicidal ideation: A study of Ghana and U.S. college samples. Cross-Cultural Research, 33, 227-238.
8.
Eshun, S., Chang, E. C., & Owusu, V. (1998). Cultural and gender differences in responses to depressive mood: A study of college students in Ghana and the USA. Personality and Individual Differences, 24(4), 581-583.
9.
Etzersdorfer, E., Vijayakumar, L., Schoeny, W., Grausgruber, A., & Sonneck, G. (1998). Attitudes towards suicide among medical students: Comparison between Madras (India) and Vienna (Austria). Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, 33(3), 104-110.
10.
German, G. A. (1972). Aspects of clinical psychiatry in sub-Saharan Africa. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121(2), 461-479.
11.
Goldney, R. D., Harris, L. C., Badri, A., Michael, S., & Fisher, L. (1998). Suicidal ideation in Sudanese women. Crisis, 19(4), 154-158.
12.
Le Vecchia, C., Lucchini, F., & Levi, F. (1994). Worldwide trends in suicide mortality, 1955-1989. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 90(1), 53-64.
13.
Lester, D., & Akande, A. (1994). Attitudes about suicide among the Yoruba of Nigeria. Journal of Social Psychology, 134(6), 851-854.
14.
Lyubomirsky, S., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1995). Effects of self-focused rumination on negative thinking and interpersonal problem solving. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(1), 176-190.
15.
Majodina, M. Z. (1986). Symptoms of depressive illness in Black Zimbabwean women. Unpublished manuscript, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
16.
Majodina, M. Z., & Attah-Johnson, F. Y. (1983). Standardized assessment of depressive disorders (SADD) in Ghana. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 442-446.
17.
Maris, R. W., Berman, A. L., Maltsberger, J. T., & Yufit, R. I. (Eds.). (1991). Assessment and prediction of suicide.New York: Guilford.
18.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1987). Sex differences in unipolar depression: Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 259-282.
19.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1996). Chewing the cud and other ruminations. In R. Wyer (Ed.), Advances in social cognition,(pp. 135-144). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
20.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., McBride, A., & Larsen, J. (1997). Rumination and psychological distress among bereaved partners. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(4), 855-862.
21.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Morrow, J. (1991). A prospective study of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after a natural disaster: The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 115-121.
22.
Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Parker, L., & Larsen, J. (1994). Ruminative coping with depressive mood following loss. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 92-104.
23.
Orley, J. H. (1970). Culture and mental illness.Nairobi, Kenya: East African Publishing House.
24.
Pillay, A. L., & Wassenaar, D. R. (1995). Psychological intervention, pessimism, hopelessness, and psychiatric disturbance in adolescent parasuicides. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 25(3), 386-392.
25.
Reynolds, W. M. (1990). Development of a semi-structured clinical inter-view for suicidal behavior in adolescents. Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2, 382-390.
26.
Reynolds, W. M. (1991). Adult Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire professional manual.Odessa, FL: Psychological Resource.
27.
Rich, C. L., Ricketts, J. E., Thaler, R. C., & Young, D. (1988). Some differences between men and women who commit suicide. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 718-722.
28.
Rudd, M. D. (1990). An integrative model of suicidal ideation. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 20, 16-30.
29.
Sanborn, C. J. (1990). Gender socialization and suicide: American Association of Suicidology presidential address, 1989. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 20(2), 148-155.
30.
Schwartz, A. J., & Whitaker, L. C. (1990). Suicide among college students: Assessment, treatment, and intervention. In S. J. Blumenthal & D. J. Kupfer (Eds.), Suicide over the life cycle(pp. 302-340). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
31.
Sefa-Dedeh, A., & Canetto, S. S. (1992). Women, family, and suicidal behavior in Ghana. In U. P. Gielen, L. L. Adler, & N. A. Milgram (Eds.), Psychology in international perspective(pp. 299-309). Berwyn, PA: Swets & Zetlinger.
32.
Singh, G. K., Kochanek, K. D., & MacDorman, M. F. (1996). Advance report of final mortality statistics 1994. National Center for Health Statistics report(Vol. 45, No. 3). Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
33.
Wellman, R. J., & Wellman, M. M. (1986). Sex differences in peer responsiveness to suicide ideation. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 16, 360-378.
34.
Wellman, R. J., & Wellman, M. M. (1988). Correlates of suicide ideation in a college population. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 23, 90-95.
35.
Young, A. S., Nuechterlein, K. H., Mintz, J., Ventura, J., Gitlin, M., & Liberman, R. P. (1998). Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in re centonset schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 24(4), 629-634.
36.
Zhang, J. (1996). Suicides in Beijing, China, 1992-1993. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 26, 175-180.
37.
Zhang, J., & Jin, S. (1996). Determinants of suicide ideation: A comparison of Chinese and American college students. Adolescence, 31(122), 452-467.
38.
Zhang, J., & Jin, S. (1998). The effects of physical and psychological well-being on suicidal ideation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54(4), 401-413.
