Suicidal ideation and family relationships: Comparison of Filipino and Chinese adolescents

• Main Author: Su, Bing
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2006
• Subjects: Teenager > China; Suicide; Suicidal behavior; Psychiatry and Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/3536; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/10374/viewcontent/CDTG004358_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

The rate of adolescent suicide cases all over the world has tripled over several decades. Suicide, by its nature, is a complex problem. Many myths have arisen regarding suicide, specifically about those individuals who commit it, about suicide risk factors, current prevention programs, and the treatment of at-risk youths. Suicide ideation, defined as the plans and wishes to commit suicide and as self-reported thoughts of engaging in suicide-related behavior, is common in young people (Beck et al., 1979; OCarroll et al., 1996). Literatures on family risk factors for youth suicidal behaviors have been reviewed. One study extends previous research by examining the role of family cohesion, family conflict, and family communication in suicide ideations among individuals living in the Philippines and in China. Aside from this, the main objective of this study is to examine whether there are differences between Filipino and Chinese adolescents in terms of their suicidal ideations, and to find out how family relationships correlate to suicidal ideations. The total sample size is 240 with the participants ages ranging from 14 to 21 years old. Half of the population was gathered from the Philippines (49% male, 51% female), and the other half from China (50% male, 50% female). The Filipino participants came from one high school and one college located in the city of Manila. The Chinese participants came from two high schools in the city of Shandong. The research instruments used for this study are: (a) Personal Information Questionnaire; (b) Family Environment Scale; (c) Family Problem Solving Communication; (d) The Scale for Suicide Ideation. Furthermore, the ANOVA, t-test, and the Pearson correlation were used in this study to analyze the differences between Filipino and Chinese adolescents suicidal ideation, and the relationships between family factors and adolescents suicidal ideations as well. The findings showed that there are 208 (approximately 87%) adolescents in the sample thought about suicide. Furthermore, the findings revealed that Filipino adolescents have greater tendencies of thinking about suicide compared to Chinese adolescents. In terms of gender, both male and female are at risk and prone to suicide ideations, however males are more inclined to think about suicide than females. Females It is noticeable that in the previous studies, females are more likely to think about suicide than males. The results are contrary to the findings of this study. Moreover, both family cohesion and family communication are significantly correlated with adolescents suicidal ideation. It means that adolescents who had strong family cohesion or affirming family communication would be less likely to experience suicide ideation. On the other hand, family conflict among Filipino participants was not seen as significantly correlated to the adolescents suicidal ideations. However, among the Chinese sample, only family cohesion is significantly correlated with suicidal ideations. There are no significant relationships between family conflict and adolescents suicidal ideation. Thus, findings show that family cohesion has the most impact on Filipino and Chinese adolescents suicidal ideations. In other words, family cohesion is the best predictor among family variables on their suicidal ideation. Further studies on larger populations are strongly recommended. It is also recommended for researchers to use other research methods that could help them gain more information. For succeeding researchers, it is necessary for them to consider more possible risk factors that could lead adolescents to think about suicide.