Life stress, social support, and problem-solving skills in depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation for an Asian student population: a test of a model

The present study tested a stress-problem-solving and stresssocial support etiological model for depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation for a group of Asian foreign students in the United states. Problem-solving skills and social support were hypothesized as two mediators between life stress and dependent variables, such as depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation. The results from a series of stepwise regression analyses and a path analysis supported the hypothesis. The results were also compared with other significant studies in this area and similar findings from cross cultures were addressed. The important role of social support and problem-solving confidence in depression and hopelessness were discussed. The results also suggest that depression and hopelessness may be two separate and complementary pathways in the etiology of suicide ideation. In addition, two new measures for life stress and social support for this specific population were designed and employed in the study. Satisfactory psychometric properties of these two new scales were indicated, including test-retest reliability, internal consistency, concurrent validity, incremental validity, and construct validity. Results from factor analysis and regression analyses for factors of the new scales were also discussed in relation to depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation. Given the correlational nature of the study, some precautions regarding how to interpret the results were discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Clinical Psychology

Department dc:contributor.department

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1992

Author dc:creator

• Yang, Bin

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Clum, George A. Jr.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Jones, Russell T.
• Ollendick, Thomas H.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-06062008-162301

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/27967