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Perceptions of Academic and Family Climates Predicts Suicide Ideation and Depression
The research consisted of two parts. The first part focused on how three academic-related factors: academic self-concept, test anxiety and perceived parents¡¦ dissatisfaction, are associated with depression and suicide ideation among Hong Kong adolescents. Analysis on the questionnaires from 327 female students aged 13-18 found 47% (154) reported some suicide ideation, i.e. they have thought about suicide. Higher test anxiety, lower academic self-concept (perceiving that they were incapable of getting good academic results) and perceiving that their parents were dissatisfied with their academic performance are related to higher levels of depression and suicide ideation. In particular, there was a high correlation between text anxiety and depression. Results show that students with high test anxiety were two times more likely to have thought about suicide. No previous studies in the West to our knowledge have found such a strong relationship between academic-related factors and depression and suicide ideation. Further study was carried out to look into the importance of parents¡¦ role in affecting adolescents¡¦ psychological health. How family cohesion, family support and parent-adolescent conflict were associated with adolescents¡¦ depression and suicide ideation was examined. Among 189 boys and 182 girls aged 14-20, 52.6% (87 males; 108 females) reported some suicide ideation. Significantly more females than males were identified as suicide ideators. Low levels of family cohesion and support and high levels of parent-adolescent conflict were found to be related to higher levels of depression and suicide ideation in both genders. Perceiving that one¡¦s family is emotionally close, instrumentally supportive and relatively low in conflicts are all independently associated with lower distress levels in both male and female students. These two studies provide insight into Hong Kong adolescents¡¦ depression and suicide ideation. They showed that there are independent, measurable aspects of both academic pressure and family environment that are associated with depression and, in turn, suicide ideation in adolescents. Both school- and family-related anxieties are very important in understanding adolescent depression and suicide ideation, particularly in Hong Kong with strong traditions of striving for academic excellence and family harmony. The research was led by Professor Catherine McBride-Chang of the Department of Psychology and the results will be published on the Journal of Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior in February. |