A Process Model of Suicidal Ideation in College Population: Death Attitudes and Hopelessness as Mediators

Depression has been found to be a significant factor in predicting suicidal ideation but some others revealed opposite findings. Therefore, this study investigated some possible mediators (hopelessness, attitude toward life, and attitude toward death) and moderators (social problem solving) which linked or buffered depression and suicidal ideation. Based on previous research findings, this study proposed two possible models and tested the model fits. Beck Depressive Inventory (BDI), Multi-Attitude Suicide Tendency Scale (MAST), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Social Problem-Solving Inventory-Revised (SPSI-R), NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI) were administered to 946 college students. Bivariate analyses of associations as well as between group comparisons for the depressed subjects with or without suicide ideation and the normal control were conducted on their hopelessness, attitude toward death, problem-solving deficit, and personality scores. The depressed suicidal group was the most depressed, hopeless, and suicidal. Both the two depressed groups showed more neurotic personality and problem solving deficits, indicating a tendency to use more avoidance and impulsive/carelessness problem solving styles. Factor analyses of the SPSI-R and the MAST revealed that both scales consisted of four factors. Structural equation modeling (SEM) resulted in acceptable fit of the depressed suicidal mediated model to account for the proposed process model of suicidality for the college sample. In sum, attitude toward life, attitude toward death, and hopelessness played important roles in mediating depression and suicidal ideation. Furthermore, problem-solving deficits were co-varied with depression. The implications of the present findings and future research possibilities are discussed.