Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 2/2014

01-02-2014 | Original Paper

Stressful psychosocial school environment and suicidal ideation in Chinese adolescents

Authors: Li Shang, Jian Li, Yan Li, Tao Wang, Johannes Siegrist

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 2/2014

Login to get access

Abstract

Purpose

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death during adolescence worldwide. This study, using a sample of Chinese adolescents, examines associations of a stressful psychosocial school environment with suicidal ideation, which were rarely investigated so far.

Methods

A total of 1,004 Chinese students (468 boys and 536 girls) from Grade 7–12 were recruited into our questionnaire survey. Psychosocial school environment was measured by the effort–reward imbalance questionnaire adapted to the school setting, and suicidal ideation was assessed by a standardized question. Multivariate logistic regression was applied, adjusting odds ratios for age, gender, grade, smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity, family wealth, and self-rated health.

Results

In school settings, 10.86 % students reported suicidal ideation during the last 6 months, which was found to be significantly related to both effort and reward. Remarkably, effort–reward imbalance was associated with elevated risk of suicidal ideation (odds ratio = 1.77, 95 % confidence interval = 1.34–2.35).

Conclusions

This study finds significant associations between a stressful psychosocial school environment in terms of effort–reward imbalance and suicidal ideation in Chinese adolescents. Preventive actions aiming at reducing this imbalance may define a promising approach towards a healthy psychosocial school environment.
Literature
1.
Wasserman D, Cheng Q, Jiang GX (2005) Global suicide rates among young people aged 15–19. World Psychiatry 4(2):114–120PubMedCentralPubMed
2.
3.
4.
Evans E, Hawton K, Rodham K (2004) Factors associated with suicidal phenomena in adolescents: a systematic review of population-based studies. Clin Psychol Rev 24(8):957–979PubMedCrossRef
5.
Amitai M, Apter A (2012) Social aspects of suicidal behavior and prevention in early life: a review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 9(3):985–994PubMedCrossRef
6.
Young R, Sweeting H, Ellaway A (2011) Do schools differ in suicide risk? The influence of school and neighbourhood on attempted suicide, suicidal ideation and self-harm among secondary school pupils. BMC Public Health 11:874PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef
7.
Viner RM, Ozer EM, Denny S, Marmot M, Resnick M, Fatusi A, Currie C (2012) Adolescence and the social determinants of health. Lancet 379(9826):1641–1652PubMedCrossRef
8.
Li J, Shang L, Wang T, Siegrist J (2010) Measuring effort–reward imbalance in school settings: a novel approach and its association with self-rated health. J Epidemiol 20(2):111–118PubMedCrossRef
9.
Siegrist J (1996) Adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions. J Occup Health Psychol 1(1):27–41PubMedCrossRef
10.
Stansfeld S, Candy B (2006) Psychosocial work environment and mental health—a meta-analytic review. Scand J Work Environ Health 32(6):443–462PubMedCrossRef
11.
Backé EM, Seidler A, Latza U, Rossnagel K, Schumann B (2012) The role of psychosocial stress at work for the development of cardiovascular diseases: a systematic review. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 85(1):67–79PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef
12.
Mann JJ, Waternaux C, Haas GL, Malone KM (1999) Toward a clinical model of suicidal behavior in psychiatric patients. Am J Psychiatry 156(2):181–189PubMed
13.
Mann JJ (2013) The serotonergic system in mood disorders and suicidal behaviour. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 368(1615):20120537PubMedCrossRef
14.
Hen M, Goroshit M (2012) Academic procrastination, emotional intelligence, academic self-efficacy, and GPA: a comparison between students with and without learning disabilities. J Learn Disabil. doi:10.​1177/​0022219412439325​ PubMed
15.
Geisthardt C, Munsch J (1996) Coping with school stress: a comparison of adolescents with and without learning disabilities. J Learn Disabil 29(3):287–296PubMedCrossRef
16.
Blum RW, Kelly A, Ireland M (2001) Health-risk behaviors and protective factors among adolescents with mobility impairments and learning and emotional disabilities. J Adolesc Health 28(6):481–490PubMedCrossRef
17.
Hurtig T, Taanila A, Moilanen I, Nordström T, Ebeling H (2012) Suicidal and self-harm behaviour associated with adolescent attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-a study in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. Nord J Psychiatry 66(5):320–328PubMedCrossRef
18.
O’Carroll PW, Berman AL, Maris RW, Moscicki EK, Tanney BL, Silverman MM (1996) Beyond the tower of babel: a nomenclature for suicidology. Suicide Life Threat Behav 26(3):237–252PubMed
19.
Baca-Garcia E, Perez-Rodriguez MM, Oquendo MA, Keyes KM, Hasin DS, Grant BF, Blanco C (2011) Estimating risk for suicide attempt: are we asking the right questions? Passive suicidal ideation as a marker for suicidal behavior. J Affect Disord 134(1–3):327–332PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef
20.
Crystal DS, Chen C, Fuligni AJ, Stevenson HW, Hsu CC, Ko HJ, Kitamura S, Kimura S (1994) Psychological maladjustment and academic achievement: a cross-cultural study of Japanese, Chinese, and American high school students. Child Dev 65(3):738–753PubMedCrossRef
21.
22.
Siegrist J, Starke D, Chandola T, Godin I, Marmot M, Niedhammer I, Peter R (2004) The measurement of effort–reward imbalance at work: European comparisons. Soc Sci Med 58(8):1483–1499PubMedCrossRef
23.
Zullig KJ, Pun S, Patton JM, Ubbes VA (2006) Reliability of the 2005 middle school Youth Risk Behavior Survey. J Adolesc Health 39(6):856–860PubMedCrossRef
24.
Swahn MH, Bossarte RM, Choquet M, Hassler C, Falissard B, Chau N (2012) Early substance use initiation and suicide ideation and attempts among students in France and the United States. Int J Public Health 57(1):95–105PubMedCrossRef
25.
Wang RH, Lai HJ, Hsu HY, Hsu MT (2011) Risk and protective factors for suicidal ideation among Taiwanese adolescents. Nurs Res 60(6):413–421PubMedCrossRef
26.
Evans E, Hawton K, Rodham K, Deeks J (2005) The prevalence of suicidal phenomena in adolescents: a systematic review of population-based studies. Suicide Life Threat Behav 35(3):239–250PubMedCrossRef
27.
Juan W, Xiao-Juan D, Jia-Ji W, Xin-Wang W, Liang X (2010) The associations between health risk behaviors and suicidal ideation and attempts in an urban Chinese sample of adolescents. J Affect Disord 126(1–2):180–187PubMedCrossRef
28.
Langille DB, Asbridge M, Kisely S, Rasic D (2012) Suicidal behaviours in adolescents in Nova Scotia, Canada: protective associations with measures of social capital. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47(10):1549–1555PubMedCrossRef
29.
Cheung YT, Wong PW, Lee AM, Lam TH, Fan YS, Yip PS (2013) Non-suicidal self-injury and suicidal behavior: prevalence, co-occurrence, and correlates of suicide among adolescents in Hong Kong. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. doi:10.​1007/​s00127-012-0640-4 PubMed
30.
Currie C, Gabhainn SN, Godeau E, Roberts C, Smith R, Currie D, Picket W, Richter M, Morgan A, Barnekow V (2008) Inequalities in young people’s health: international report from the HBSC 2006/06 survey. WHO policy series: health policy for children and adolescents Issue 5. WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen
31.
32.
Liu Y, Lu Z (2012) Chinese high school students’ academic stress and depressive symptoms: gender and school climate as moderators. Stress Health 28(4):340–346PubMedCrossRef
33.
Hesketh T, Ding QJ, Jenkins R (2002) Suicide ideation in Chinese adolescents. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 37(5):230–235PubMedCrossRef
34.
Liu X, Tein JY (2005) Life events, psychopathology, and suicidal behavior in Chinese adolescents. J Affect Disord 86(2–3):195–203PubMedCrossRef
35.
Cui S, Cheng Y, Xu Z, Chen D, Wang Y (2011) Peer relationships and suicide ideation and attempts among Chinese adolescents. Child Care Health Dev 37(5):692–702PubMedCrossRef
36.
Jablonska B, Lindberg L, Lindblad F, Rasmussen F, Ostberg V, Hjern A (2009) School performance and hospital admissions due to self-inflicted injury: a Swedish national cohort study. Int J Epidemiol 38(5):1334–1341PubMedCrossRef
37.
Gunnell D, Löfving S, Gustafsson JE, Allebeck P (2011) School performance and risk of suicide in early adulthood: follow-up of two national cohorts of Swedish schoolchildren. J Affect Disord 131(1–3):104–112PubMedCrossRef
38.
Wahrendorf M, von dem Knesebeck O, Siegrist J (2006) Social productivity and well-being of older people: baseline results from the SHARE study. Eur J Ageing 3(2):67–73CrossRef
39.
Sperlich S, Arnhold-Kerri S, Siegrist J, Geyer S (2013) The mismatch between high effort and low reward in household and family work predicts impaired health among mothers. Eur J Public Health. doi:10.​1093/​eurpub/​cks134 PubMed
40.
Siegrist J (2005) Social reciprocity and health: new scientific evidence and policy implications. Psychoneuroendocrinology 30(10):1033–1038PubMedCrossRef
41.
Piko BF (2007) Self-perceived health among adolescents: the role of gender and psychosocial factors. Eur J Pediatr 166(7):701–708PubMedCrossRef
42.
Xu Z, Su H, Zou Y, Chen J, Wu J, Chang W (2011) Self-rated health of Chinese adolescents: distribution and its associated factors. Scand J Caring Sci 25(4):780–786PubMedCrossRef
43.
Eaton DK, Foti K, Brener ND, Crosby AE, Flores G, Kann L (2011) Associations between risk behaviors and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts: do racial/ethnic variations in associations account for increased risk of suicidal behaviors among Hispanic/Latina 9th- to 12th-grade female students? Arch Suicide Res 15(2):113–126PubMedCrossRef
44.
Eaton DK, Lowry R, Brener ND, Galuska DA, Crosby AE (2005) Associations of body mass index and perceived weight with suicide ideation and suicide attempts among US high school students. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 159(6):513–519PubMedCrossRef
45.
Robinson J, Cox G, Malone A, Williamson M, Baldwin G, Fletcher K, O’Brien M (2013) A systematic review of school-based interventions aimed at preventing, treating, and responding to suicide- related behavior in young people. Crisis 34(3):164–182
Metadata
Title
Stressful psychosocial school environment and suicidal ideation in Chinese adolescents
Authors
Li Shang
Jian Li
Yan Li
Tao Wang
Johannes Siegrist
Publication date
01-02-2014
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 2/2014
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0728-5

Other articles of this Issue 2/2014

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 2/2014 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Interpersonal functioning deficits in association with DSM-IV personality disorder dimensions

Original Paper

The impact of newspaper reporting of hydrogen sulfide suicide on imitative suicide attempts in Japan

Original Paper

Feasibility of internet-delivered mental health treatments for rural populations

Original Paper

Parental socio-economic position during childhood as a determinant of self-harm in adolescence

Original Paper

Gender differences in the relationship between school problems, school class context and psychological distress: results from the Young-HUNT 3 study

Original Paper

Pattern of experienced and anticipated discrimination among people with depression in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study