A sample of 90 rural Chinese women were interviewed and tested to assess a theoretical model that assumes suicide ideation is a function of four broad theoretical variables: 1) psychological aspects such as self-esteem and personal adjustment; 2) coping aspects; 3) environmental aspects, specifically the degree of support found in the family and in the community; and 4) attitudes toward suicide. The data were analyzed first for reliability, which was found to be adequate, and then from a covariance structure modeling approach—i.e., LISREL. The results are complex, but do suggest a relative fit between theoretical model and observed data, though the fit is limited by a number of necessary assumptions in covariance structural modeling that may not reflect psychological and psychometric reality.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndrewsG.PollockC., & StewartG. (1989). The determination of defense style by questionnaire. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 455–460.
2.
ArgyleM.MartinM., & CrosslandJ. (1989). In ForgasJ. (Ed.), Recent advances in social psychology (pp. 189–247). Amsterdam: North Holland.
3.
BeckA. T.KovacsM., & WeissmanA. (1979). Assessment of suicidal intention: The scale for suicide ideation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 343–352.
4.
BondM.GardnerS. T.ChristianJ., & SiegelJ. J. (1983). Empirical study of self-rated defense styles. Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 333–338.
5.
BrecklerS. J. (1990). Applications of covariance structure modeling in psychology: Cause for concern?Psychological Bulletin, 107, 260–273.
6.
BrislinR. W. (1979). Back translation for cross-cultural research. Journal of Cross-Cultural Research, 1, 185–216.
7.
BrislinR. W. (1986). The wording and translation of research instruments. In LonnerW. J. & BerryJ. W. (Eds.), Field methods in cross-cultural research (pp. 137–164). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
8.
ChilesJ. A.StrosahlK. D.PingZ. Y., & MichaelM. C. (1989). Depression, hopelessness, and suicidal behavior in Chinese and American psychiatric patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 339–344.
9.
DemiA.MoneyhamL.SowellR., & CohenL. (1997). Coping strategies used by HIV infected women. Omega, 35, 377–391.
10.
DominoG. (1982). Get high on yourself: The effectiveness of a television campaign on self-esteem, drug use, and drug attitudes. Journal of Drug Education, 12, 163–171.
11.
DominoG. (1996). Test-retest reliability of the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire. Psychological Reports, 78, 1–2.
12.
DominoG., & BlumbergE. (1987). An application of Gough's conceptual model to a measure of adolescent self-esteem. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16, 179–190.
13.
DominoG.GibsonL.PolingS., & WestlakeL. (1980). Students' attitudes towards suicide. Social Psychiatry, 15, 127–130.
14.
DominoG.LinJ., & ChangO. (1994–95). Attitudes toward suicide and conservatism: A comparison of Chinese and United States samples. Omega, 31, 229–244.
15.
DominoG.MacGregorJ. C., & HannahM. T. (1988–89). Collegiate attitudes toward suicide: New Zealand and United States. Omega, 19, 351–364.
16.
DominoG.MooreD.WestlakeL., & GibsonL. (1982). Attitudes towards suicide: A factor analytic approach. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38, 257–262.
17.
DominoG.NilesS., & RajS. D. (1993–94). Attitudes toward suicide: A cross-cultural comparison of Singaporean and Australian University students. Omega, 28, 125–137.
18.
DominoG.ShenD., & SuS. (1999–2000). Acceptability of suicide: Attitudes in Taiwan and in the United States. Omega, 40, 293–306.
19.
DominoG., & SuS. (1994–95). Conservatism and attitudes toward suicide: A study of Taiwanese-American and U.S. adults. Omega, 30, 131–143.
20.
DominoG.ShenD., & SuS. (2000). Cross cultural investigation of a new set of scales for the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire. Omega, 41, 307–321.
21.
DominoG., & TakahashiY. (1991). Attitudes toward suicide in Japanese and American medical students. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 21, 345–359.
22.
FrancisL. J. (1999). Happiness is a thing called stable extraversion: A further examination of the relationship between the Oxford Happiness Inventory and Eysenck's dimensional model of personality and gender. Personality and Individual Differences, 26, 5–11.
23.
JinS., & ZhangJ. (1998). The effects of physical and psychological well-being on suicidal ideation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54, 401–413.
24.
JoreskogK. G., & SorbomD. (1993). LISREL 8: Structural equation modeling with the Simplis command language.Chicago: Scientific Software International.
25.
KastenbaumR. J. (1998). Death, Society, and Human Experience (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
26.
KlineR. B. (1991). Latent variable path analysis in clinical research: A beginner's tour guide. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47, 471–484.
27.
LesterD. (1972). Why people kill themselves.Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
28.
LesterD. (1991). The Lester Attitude toward Death scale. Omega, 23, 67–75.
29.
LesterD. (1997). Suicide in an international perspective. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 27, 104–111.
30.
LettieriD. J. (1974). Suicidal death prediction scales. In BeckA. T.ResnickH. L. P., & LettieriD. J. (Eds.). The prediction of suicide, (pp. 163–192). Bowie, MD: Charles Press Publishers.
31.
MoneyhamL.DemiA., & MizunoY. (1997–98). Development and testing of a contextually and culturally relevant measure of coping for use with women infected with HIV. Omega, 36, 359–374.
32.
MurrayC. J. L., & LopezA. D. (1996). The global burden of disease.Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
33.
ParryG., & ShapiroD. A. (1986). Social support and life events in working class women. Archives of General Psychiatry, 43, 315–323.
34.
PerryJ. C., & CooperS. H. (1986). What do cross-sectional measures of defense mechanisms predict? In VaillantG. E. (Ed.), Empirical studies of ego mechanisms of defense (pp. 31–46). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc.
35.
ShiangJ.BarronS.BlinnR.TamW. C. C., & XiaoS. Y. (1998). Suicide and gender in the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Chinese in the U.S. Transcultural Psychiatry, 35, 235–251.
36.
VaillantG. E. (1971). Theoretical hierarchy of adaptive ego mechanisms. Archives of General Psychiatry, 24, 107–118.
37.
VaillantG. E. (1976). Natural history of male psychological health. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 535–545.
38.
VaillantG. E. (Ed.). (1986). Empirical studies of ego mechanisms of defense.Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc.
39.
ZhangJ. (1996). Suicides in Beijing, China, 1992–1993. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 26, 175–180.
40.
ZhangJ., & JinS. (1996). Determinants of suicide ideation: A comparison of Chinese and American college students. Adolescence, 31, 451–467.
41.
ZhangJ., & JinS. (1998). Interpersonal relations and suicide ideation in China. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 124, 79–94.
42.
ZhaoS.QuG.PengZ., & PengT. (1994). The sex ratio of suicide rates in China. Crisis, 15, 44–48.
