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

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2020

01-12-2020 | Suicide | Research article

Meaning in life as a protective factor against suicidal tendencies in Chinese University students

Authors: Bob Lew, Ksenia Chistopolskaya, Augustine Osman, Jenny Mei Yiu Huen, Mansor Abu Talib, Angel Nga Man Leung

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2020

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

A substantial increase in rates of suicide worldwide, especially among late adolescents and young adults, has been observed. It is important to identify specific risk and protective factors for suicide-related behaviors among late adolescents and young adults. Identifying specific factors across the masses, not only in the Western, but also in the Asian context, helps researchers develop empirically informed intervention methods for the management of protective and risk factors of suicide.

Methods

In the current study, 2074 students (706 males), filled out the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, with subscales of Search for Meaning (MLQ-S) and Presence of Meaning (MLQ-P); the Future Disposition Inventory-24 (FDI-24), with subscales of Positive Focus (PF), Suicide Orientation (SO), and Negative Focus (NF); and the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). These scales measure protective and risk factors that are linked to suicidal behaviors; while suicidal behaviors were measured by the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R). Mediation analyses were performed to test the models with both the MLQ-S and MLQ-P as the mediators between a) hopelessness, as measured by BHS and suicidal behaviors; and b) PF, SO, and NF, as measured by FDI-24, and suicidal behaviors.

Results

We found that only MLQ-P mediated the relation between hopelessness and suicidal behaviors; while both MLQ-P and MLQ-S mediated PF, SO, and NF (as measured by FDI-24), and suicidal behaviors, respectively.

Conclusion

Meaning in life, including both the presence of meaning in life and search for meaning, can be good protective factors against suicidal behaviors.
Footnotes
1
The bi-factor model provided support for the high factor intercorrelations often being observed between scores for the two factor scales found in Oriental studies including the present study. As per bi-factor modeling, MLQ-P and MLQ-S scale scores as well as total scores could be used in interpreting scores on the MLQ.
 
Literature
1.
World Health Organization. Preventing suicide: a global imperative. Luxemburg: WHO; 2014.
2.
Phillips MR, Yang G, Zhang Y, Wang L, Ji H, Zhou M. Risk factors for suicide in China: a national case-control psychological autopsy study. Lancet. 2002;360:1728–36.CrossRefPubMed
3.
Zhang J, Sun L, Liu Y, Zhang J. The change in suicide rates between 2002 and 2011 in China. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2014;44:560–8.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Arnett JJ. Emerging adulthood: understanding the new way of coming of age. In: Arnett JJ, Tanner JL, editors. Emerging adults in America: coming of age in the 21st century. Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association; 2006. p. 3–19.
5.
Eskin M, Sun JM, Abuidhail J, Yoshimasu K, Kujan O, Janghorbani M, Flood C, et al. Suicidal behavior and psychological distress in university students: a 12-nation study. Arch Suicide Res. 2016;20:369–88.
6.
Arria AM, O’Grady KE, Caldeira KM, Vincent KB, Wilcox HC, Wish ED. Suicide ideation among college students: a multivariate analysis. Arch Suicide Res. 2009;13:230–46.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
7.
Chang EC. Hope and hopelessness as predictors of suicide ideation in Hungarian college students. Death Studies. 2017;41:455–60.CrossRefPubMed
8.
Range LM, Penton SR. Hope, hopelessness, and suicidality in college students. Psychol Rep. 1994;75:456–8.CrossRefPubMed
9.
Hill RM, Castellanos D, Pettit JW. Suicide-related behaviors and anxiety in children and adolescents: a review. Clin Psychol Rev. 2011;31:1133–44.CrossRefPubMed
10.
Xie X, Zou B, Huang Z. Relationships between suicide attitudes and perception of life purpose and meaning of life in college students. Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Bao. 2012;32:1482–5.
11.
Frankl V. Man’s search for meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press; 2006. (1946).
12.
Maslow A. Toward a psychology of being. New York: Van Nostrand; 1968. (1962).
13.
Rogers C. On becoming a person. Houghton Mifflin: Boston, MA; 1961.
14.
Van Deurzen E. Existential counseling and psychotherapy in practice. London: Sage; 2001.
15.
Wong PTP, Fry PS. The human quest for meaning: a handbook of psychological research and clinical application. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum; 1998.
16.
Yalom I. Existential psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books; 1980.
17.
Frankl V. The will to meaning. New York: Plume; 2014. (1969).
18.
Steger MF, Frazier P, Oishi S, Kaler M. The meaning in life questionnaire: assessing the presence of and a search for meaning in life. J Couns Psychol. 2006;53:80–93.CrossRef
19.
Harlow LL, Newcomb MD, Bentler PM. Depression, self-derogation, substance use, and suicide ideation: lack of purpose in life as a meditational factor. J Clin Psychol. 1986;42:5–21.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Kleiman EM, Adams LM, Kashdan TB, Riskind JH. Gratitude and grit indirectly reduce risk of suicidal ideations by enhancing meaning in life: evidence for a mediated moderation model. J Res Pers. 2013;47:539–46.CrossRef
21.
Heisel MJ, Neufeld E, Flett GL. Reasons for living, meaning in life, and suicide ideation: investigating the roles of key positive psychological factors in reducing suicide risk in community-residing older adults. Aging Ment Health. 2016;20:195–207.CrossRefPubMed
22.
Edwards MJ, Holden RR. Coping, meaning in life, and suicidal manifestations: examining gender differences. J Clin Psychol. 2001;57:1517–34.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Marco JH, Perez S, Garcia-Alandete J. Meaning in life buffers the association between risk factors for suicide and hopelessness in participants with mental disorders. J Clin Psychol. 2016;72:689–700.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Steger MF, Kashdan TB, Sullivan BA, Lorentz D. Understanding the search for meaning in life: personality, cognitive style, and the dynamic between seeking and experiencing meaning. J Pers. 2008;76:199–228.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Steger MF, Oishi S, Kesebir S. Is life without meaning satisfying? The moderating role of the search for meaning in satisfaction with life judgements. J Posit Psychol. 2011;6:173–80.CrossRef
26.
Cotton Bronk K, Hill PL, Lapsley DK, Talib TL, Finch H. Purpose, hope, and life satisfaction in three age groups. J Posit Psychol. 2009;4:500–10.CrossRef
27.
Park J, Baumeister RF. Meaning in life and adjustment to daily stressors. J Posit Psychol. 2017;12:333–41.CrossRef
28.
Steger MF, Kawabata Y, Shimai S, Otake K. The meaningful life in Japan and the United States: levels and correlates of meaning in life. J Res Pers. 2008;42:660–78.CrossRef
29.
Philips MR, Li X, Zhang Y. Suicide rates in China, 1995-99. Lancet. 2002;359:835–40.CrossRef
30.
Qin P, Mortensen PB. Specific characteristics of suicide in China. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2001;103:117–21.CrossRefPubMed
31.
Snyder CR, Harris C, Anderson JR, Holleran SA, Irving LM, Sigmon ST, et al. The will and the ways: development and validation of an individual–differences measure of hope. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1991;60:570–85.CrossRefPubMed
32.
Osman A, Gutierrez PM, Barrios F, Wong JL, Freedenthal S, Lozano G. Development and initial psychometric properties of the University of Texas at san Antonio future disposition inventory. J Clin Psychol. 2010;66:410–29.CrossRefPubMed
33.
Beck AT, Weissman A, Lester D, Trexler M. The measurement of pessimism: the hopelessness scale. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1974;42:861–5.CrossRefPubMed
34.
Klonsky ED, Kotov R, Bakst S, Rabinowitz J, Bromet EJ. Hopelessness as a predictor of attempted suicide among first admission patients with psychosis: a 10-year cohort study. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2012;42:1–10.CrossRefPubMedCentral
35.
Yuan L, Wang DF, Lew B, Osman A, Jia CX. The Future Disposition Inventory-24: reliability and validity estimates in a large sample of Chinese university students. BMC Psychiatry. 2018;18:299.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
36.
Lew B, Huen J, Yuan L, Stack S, Maniam T, Yip P, Zhang J, Jia CX. Religious orientation and its relationship to Suicidality: a study in one of the least religious countries. Religions. 2018;9:15.CrossRef
37.
Kong YY, Zhang J, Jia SH, Zhou L. Reliability and validity of the Beck hopelessness scale for adolescents. Chin Ment Health J. 2007;21:686–9.
38.
Zhang WC, Jia CX, Qiu HM, Liu XC. Beck hopelessness scale: psychometric properties among rural Chinese suicide attempters and non-attempters. Death Studies. 2015;39:442–6.CrossRefPubMed
39.
Osman A, Bagge CL, Gutierrez PM, Konick LC, Kopper BA, Barrios FX. The suicidal behaviors questionnaire-revised (SBQ-R): validation with clinical and nonclinical samples. Assessment. 2001;8:443–54.CrossRefPubMed
40.
Aloba O, Ojeleye O, Aloba T. The psychometric characteristics of the 4-item Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R) as a screening tool in a non-clinical sample of Nigerian university students. Asian J Psychiatry. 2017;26:46–51.CrossRef
41.
Chan WCH. Factor structure of the Chinese version of the meaning in life questionnaire among Hong Kong Chinese caregivers. Health Soc Work. 2014;39:135–43.CrossRefPubMed
42.
43.
Preacher KJ, Kelley K. Effect size measures for mediation models: quantitative strategies for communicating indirect effects. Psychol Methods. 2011;16:93–115.CrossRefPubMed
44.
Carey M, Walther S, Russell S. The absent but implicit: a map to support therapeutic enquiry. Fam Process. 2009;48:319–31.CrossRefPubMed
45.
Henden J. Preventing suicide: the solution focused approach, 2nd Edition. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2017.
46.
Neimeyer RA. From stage follower to stage manager: contemporary directions in bereavement care. In: Doak KJ, Tucci AS, editors. Beyond Kübler-Ross: new perspectives on death, dying and grief Washington. DC: Hospice Foundation of America; 2012. p. 129–50.
47.
48.
Linehan M. Skills training manual for treating borderline personality disorder. New York: Guilford Publication; 1993.
49.
Ballard ED, Patel AB, Ward M, Lamis DA. Future disposition and suicidal ideation: mediation by depressive symptom clusters. J Affect Disord. 2015;170:1–6.CrossRefPubMed
50.
Kleiman EM, Beaver JK. A meaningful life is worth living: meaning in life as a suicide resiliency factor. Psychiatry Res. 2013;210:934–9.CrossRefPubMed
51.
Dogra AK, Basu S, Das S. Impact of meaning in life and reasons for living to hope and suicidal ideation: a study among college students. Journey Projective Psychol Mental Health. 2011;18:89–102.
52.
Huen JMY, Ip BYT, Ho SMY, Yip PSF. Hope and hopelessness: the role of hope in buffering the impact of hopelessness on suicidal ideation. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0130073.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
Metadata
Title
Meaning in life as a protective factor against suicidal tendencies in Chinese University students
Authors
Bob Lew
Ksenia Chistopolskaya
Augustine Osman
Jenny Mei Yiu Huen
Mansor Abu Talib
Angel Nga Man Leung
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
BioMed Central
Keywords
Suicide
Suicide
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02485-4

Other articles of this Issue 1/2020

BMC Psychiatry 1/2020 Go to the issue

Research article

Stress on local and international psychotherapists in the crisis region of Iraq

Research article

A Tunisian version of the confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit (CAM-ICU): translation and validation

Research article

Rare and common variants analysis of the EMB gene in patients with schizophrenia

Study protocol

Independent Housing and Support for non-homeless individuals with severe mental illness: randomised controlled trial vs. observational study – study protocol

Research article

Effect of self-care counselling on depression and anxiety in women with endometriosis: a randomized controlled trial

Correction

Correction to: Oral esketamine for treatment-resistant depression: rationale and design of a randomized controlled trial