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Linking family dysfunction to suicidal ideation: Mediating roles of self‐views and world‐views
Author(s) -
Chen Sylvia Xiaohua,
Wu Wesley C. H.,
Bond Michael Harris
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
asian journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-839X
pISSN - 1367-2223
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-839x.2009.01280.x
Subject(s) - psychology , suicidal ideation , mediation , cynicism , ideation , structural equation modeling , cognition , psychological intervention , perception , social psychology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , suicide prevention , poison control , psychiatry , medicine , statistics , mathematics , environmental health , neuroscience , politics , political science , law , cognitive science
Research on suicide has documented various factors predicting suicidal ideation. The present study focused on the pathways emanating from one of the external, environmental forces (i.e. family dysfunction) through internal responses (beliefs about oneself and about the world), to suicidal ideation among Hong Kong Chinese. Using structural equation modelling, we tested the mediating roles of depressive self‐views (including stress perception, depressive cognition and negative self‐esteem) as well as two dimensions of social axioms (social cynicism and negative reward for application). Multi‐group analysis showed that the mediation model was invariant across both males and females. Being socialized into a problematic family of origin affected multiple aspects of one's assessments of both oneself and one's world which, in turn, lead to greater suicidal ideation. Our findings provide important implications for assessing suicidal risk and guiding interventions in clinical treatment.