Master of Arts (Applied Psychology)

The present study is the first prevalence study of adolescent suicidal behaviours in Singapore. It also investigates the role of adaptive cognitive beliefs and coping strategies against suicide, an area which has not been given adequate attention in Western and local suicide studies.

A total of 437 Secondary 1 to 4 Gifted Education Programme (GEP), Express and Normal (Academic) students from 7 secondary schools completed questionnaires which included the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire for Children (SBQ-C), the Reasons for Living Inventory for Adolescents (RFL-A) and the Adolescent Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences (A-COPE).

The overall prevalence rate for suicidal behaviours (suicide ideation and suicide attempt) was 50.5%. Suicide ideators accounted for 46.1% and suicide attempters, 4.4% of the respondents. Male students were as likely as the females to engage in suicidal behaviours.

Students from the GEP reported a higher prevalence rate of suicidal behaviour (64.35%) as compared to the Express (40.3%) and Normal (Academic) (47.9%) students. Most of the difference was accounted for by the greater proportion of suicide ideators in the GEP than the mainstream. No significant racial difference was found. Despite the higher overall prevalence rate of past suicidal behaviours, most respondents (85.5%) thought they would definitely or probably not commit suicide in future.

A key focus of this study was to investigate the differences in adaptive cognitive beliefs between suicidal and nonsuicidal respondents. The findings revealed that suicidal respondents endorsed fewer adaptive cognitive beliefs than the nonsuicidal respondents. Females attached greater importance to adaptive cognitive beliefs related to Peer Acceptance and Support than males. GEP students endorsed fewer adaptive cognitive beliefs than the mainstream students.

This study also found that the suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents did not report any significant difference in the range of coping strategies used. However, suicidal respondents used more emotion-focused coping strategies related to Avoiding Problems than nonsuicidal ones. Girls used more coping strategies that would allow them to develop social support than boys. The mainstream students used a broader range of coping strategies than the GEP students.

The findings suggest that the first step in building the resilience of adolescents against suicide risk would be to promote a set of life-oriented beliefs to them. Then they have to learn to attach importance to these beliefs. Merely holding on to a set of beliefs may not be sufficient in buffering them against suicidal behaviours. Adolescents must also be equipped with strategies and skills that will help them cope with problems and solve them, so that they will not resort to suicidal behaviours to deal with their stressors.

The implications of the findings, limitations and suggestions for future studies are also discussed.