Master of Arts (Applied Psychology)

Relations among academic buoyancy, academic self-efficacy (ASE), and goal valuation were examined in 450 adolescents, age 13 to 16 years, from 11 secondary schools in Singapore. The present investigation also compared the academic buoyancy, ASE and goal valuation of the three educational streams, paying particular attention to the low-ability learners (students in the Normal Technical stream). In addition, gender differences were also explored.

The participants were administered a self-report questionnaire that involved ratings on a 7-point Likert-type scale; seeking their judgements, perceptions and beliefs about themselves with regards to ASE, goal valuation and academic buoyancy. Using Baron and Kenny’s (1986) four-step process, this research examined the hypothesis the relationship between ASE and academic buoyancy was mediated by adolescents’ valuation of their academic goals.

Findings from this study revealed that when goal valuation was included in the model, the previously significant relationship between ASE and academic buoyancy was significantly reduced in magnitude. Thus, this provides confirmation in the current sample that goal valuation was a partial mediator of ASE and academic buoyancy. The findings suggested that the low-ability learner registered significantly lower goal valuations as compared to the higher academic-ability learners (Express and Normal Academic streams). In addition, across all the three academic streams, boys significantly rated lower goal valuations as compared to girls. This study also discussed the applied and practical implications for interventions in schools.

Studies have show that the use of strategies in the classroom shows favorable outcomes in helping students with ADHD manage their behavior, learning and psychosocial skills. As Singapore advances in its services for students with special needs, there have been several recent efforts to investigate specific practices for supporting students with ADHD in schools and classrooms in Singapore. As part of a larger investigation, this qualitative study aims to identify the various strategies used by teachers for students with ADHD in Singapore primary classrooms. A total of 202 school personnel were selected for the study. Responses that communicate the salient experiences of the participants when working with students with ADHD were transcribed and coded for meaningful units. They were then categorized into accommodations, interventions, and modifications. Results revealed that teachers in the Singapore primary classroom used many empirically supported strategies to help students with ADHD manage their behaviour, learning, and social interactions with others. Accommodations constituted the highest percentage of the referenced responses while modifications were found to be the least referenced. Specifically, assignment of roles and tasks was one of the most employed interventions in the classroom. Challenges in implementation, limitations, and recommendations for future research were also discussed.

The current study examined the types of achievement goals (mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals) adopted by students in Singapore, the predictors of achievement goals (personal and environmental factors) as well as the academic outcomes, adaptive (self-regulated learning, intrinsic motivation, control and relevance of schoolwork, and future aspirations and goals) and maladaptive outcomes (self-handicapping and anxiety) of achievement goal adoption.

468 secondary one students in two mainstream secondary schools participated in the study. An 89-item self-report questionnaire was administered to the participants in their school during the post-examination period in May 2008. The survey administrators were the teachers of the school. An instruction sheet was provided to the administrators to ensure consistency of instructions to the participants.

The finding suggests that males were more likely than females to adopt either the performance-approach or performance-avoidance goals while the females were more likely to adopt mastery goals. The students in the Normal (Technical) Stream were more likely to adopt performance-approach goals. Achievement goals were not found to be predictors of academic performance. The personal factors of academic resilience and academic efficacy were found to be the strongest predictors of mastery goals. Similarly classroom social environment was a strong predictor of mastery goals. On the whole, personal factors are stronger predictors of mastery goals than classroom social environment. Mastery goal was the strongest predictor of all four adaptive outcomes while performance-avoidance goal was the strongest predictor of the two maladaptive outcomes. The study did not find a relationship between adaptive outcomes and academic achievement but found that maladaptive outcomes, particularly anxiety, negatively predicted academic achievement.

The findings of the study provide evidence of the applicability of the achievement goal theory framework in our local context. Implications for educational practice such as increasing students' self-efficacious beliefs, encouragement of the adoption of mastery goals, and building a positive classroom social environment were discussed. The study made some recommendations for future research that include collecting data at different time points, using a more standardised form of assessment for the measure of academic achievement and extending research to other student populations.

The present study focuses on six Kindergarten 2 children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who were recommended for and were transitioning to mainstream primary school. The study employed a collective case study design to investigate the effectiveness of the S.T.A.R.S. (Successful Transition, Adaptation, Readiness Skills) programme, a transition programme to prepare children with ASD for transition to a mainstream primary school. The effectiveness of the programme was evaluated by examination of the demonstration of behaviours taught, one month and three months after the commencement of Primary 1. The study also explored the necessary components of a transition programme by investigating local challenges faced and support provided. All six children with ASD who underwent the S.T.A.R.S. programme generally demonstrated a moderate to high level of target classroom behaviours one month and three months after commencing Primary 1 in mainstream schools. Targeted recess behaviours that were taught during the S.T.A.R.S. programme were exhibited with greater variability. Results also suggested that skills to do with socialisation and behaviour are most important to cover in a transition programme to prepare children with ASD for primary school. The S.T.A.R.S. Programme , having covered these components, seems primed for effectiveness in enhancing adaptation of children with ASD to primary school. However, results also demonstrated the insufficiency of the transition programme. Recommendations were made for the development of the transition programme and future research directions were discussed.

Past studies on Help-seeking behaviour amongst adolescents found that they prefer to seek help from informal sources rather than from formal sources.

The current study sought to find out the receptivity of adolescents to seeking help from professional sources and their preferred sources of help for three common types of adolescent problems.

The study examined whether receptivity to seeking help from mental health professionally were determined by gender and age. It also examined whether adolescents preferred to seek help from informal sources in general. Thus, hypothesis 1 stated that female adolescents were more receptive than their male counterparts in seeking help, hypothesis 2 stated that younger adolescents were more receptive than older adolescents in seeking help, hypothesis 3 stated that adolescents were more likely to seek help from informal than formal sources across three types of common adolescent problems, and hypothesis 4 stated that adolescents who were receptive to seeking help from professional sources were more likely than individuals who were less receptive, to seek help from formal sources.

Results showed that gender and age did not predict receptivity to seeking help from professional sources, adolescents preferred to seek help from informal sources, and adolescents who were receptive to seeking help from professional sources, preferred to seek help from formal sources of help.

Implications on adolescents' perception towards help-seeking were discussed and recommendations on future areas of research were made.

This present study was concerned with determining the nature of perceptions of actual and preferred classroom environments, and their impact on achievement motivation among three different ability groups of early adolescent. Also, gender differences in students' actual and preferred Classroom Perceptions and Achievement Motivation were explored. A total sample of 84 male and female students from three classes in a neighbourhood government school in Singapore was used. The three classes comprised the Express, Normal Academic and Normal Technical ability groups.

Previous research findings revealed the role of students' perceptions as strong predictors of their learning outcomes. Students' perceptions of their classroom environment were hence chosen as a variable and their relationship with Achievement Motivation, a key concept for the advancement of the individuals and the nation, was examined. The students' need to achieve was also subject to factors related to family support such as parental expectations. A cursory examination of these family factors was carried out in this study. Classroom Environment is best measured by students' perceptions as seen in previous research. Hence, questionnaires were used to tap these perceptions and obtain the required data.

There were significant gender differences in the preferred perceptions of the all five psychological aspects of Classroom Environment. No significant gender differences were found in Achievement Motivation for both actual and preferred situations.

It clear from the results that in general, students would prefer more cohesion, Task Orientation, Satisfaction and less Friction. It appears that this would help in part to raise their Achievement Motivation levels. However, increases in Achievement Motivation scores were not significant except in the case of the Normal Academic group. It is hence noted that other factors such as family support may have crucial role to play in raising Achievement Motivation significantly for students of the different ability groups. It is also noted that each individual ability group has its own set of needs. These findings have implications for educators of these early adolescents.

This study investigated perceptions of parenting characteristics in a sample of Singaporeans adolescents, and the influence of parenting characteristics on adolescents' adjustments. In addition, it examined whether perceptions varied according to parent and adolescent gender.

The results showed that while fathers and mothers within a family were likely to practice similar parenting characteristics, there were significant differences in the way fathers and mothers were perceived to be more warm/involved and strict/supervising than fathers. Both boys and girls held such a perception. In general, girls, perceived mothers to be more warm/involved and strict/supervising than fathers, compared to boys.

Furthermore, the results showed that parenting characteristics influenced adolescents' adjustments. Fathers' parenting, especially fathers' strictness/supervision was most associated with adolescents' academic ability. Adolescents with higher academic ability perceived their fathers to be warm/involved and high in strictness/supervision. Fathers' strictness/supervision was seen to be important for both boys' and girls' academic ability. The study further showed that adolescents' psychological well being was generally more strongly correlated with mothers' parenting characteristics than fathers. Parental warmth/involvement had a greater influence on adolescents' psychological well being than parental strictness/supervision. Moreover, gender was seen to have influenced the relationship between parenting characteristics and psychological well being. Girls were more affected by the parental warmth/involvement dimension and were also not negatively affected by parental strictness/supervision. Compared to girls, parental warmth/involvement had a relatively lesser influence on boys while parental strictness/supervision was positively linked to boys' somatic symptoms.

The results of the study have implications for parent education as well as for counselling. In addition, the study adds to the literature on parenting in Singapore.

The relationship between adolescents' self-esteem and participation in National Cadet Corps (NCC) is investigated in this study. The study examined (a) the correlation between NCC performance and self-esteem, (b) compared the level of self-esteem among Secondary 1, 2 and 3 NCC cadets (N=84) and (c) reasons for joining NCC. Cadets are from Northland Secondary School NCC (Land) Boys Unit. Fifty-eight percent, 32% and 10% of these cadets are in Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) courses respectively and 92% of them stay in public flats. Self-esteem Checklist (Revised) [SECr] consisting of 35 items from 6 subscales, i.e. General Self, Academic-School, Peers-Social, Home-Parents, Leadership and Participation, was used to measure the level of self-esteem. SECr is modified from Self-esteem Checklist (SEC) and includes two new subscales, i.e. Leadership and Participation. Item analysis was carried out for SECr in a pilot study involving 88 cadets attending an annual Specialists' Course. The reliability for SECr is .77 (Kuder-Richardson-20) and item-total correlation ranged from -.10 to .44 in the pilot study. NCC Performance Checklist consisting of 27 activities was used to measure performance in NCC. Reasons Checklist was constructed by compiling reasons given by cadets in the second round of data collection and was used to provide more insights into the reasons for joining NCC. No significant correlation was found between NCC performance and Total self-esteem. Correlation between NCC performance and Total self-esteem scores were -.01, .09 and .35 for Secondary 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Significant correlation was found between NCC performance and Participation self-esteem with r=.25 (p=.05) for combined level and r=.46 (p=.05) for Sec. 3 level. No significant difference was found among self-esteem scores from Secondary 1 to 3. The self-esteem mean scores for SECr ranged from 19.93 to 22.86. The most common reason for joining NCC is to improve physical fitness. The least common reason is that NCC activities are fun. Results suggested that participation in NCC is associated with self-esteem and may prevent the decrease in self-esteem during adolescence. The author feels it would be beneficial if the effect of NCC performance on adolescents' development could be further examined.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between adult attachment styles (secure, preoccupied, fearful and dismissing) and romantic relationship quality (consensus, cohesion, satisfaction, affectional expression and adjustment). Participants were 148 students from the National Institute of Education (NIE) who completed the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), Relationship Scale Questionnaire (RSQ) and Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS). Results indicated that secure attachment significantly predicted better Affectional Expression but it was not significant to the other measures of relationship quality, such as Dyadic Consensus, Dyadic Cohesion and Dyadic Satisfaction. Preoccupied attachment significantly predicted poorer Dyadic Consensus and Dyadic Cohesion while dismissing attachment predict poorer Dyadic Cohesion. In view of these findings, useful and practical implication for interventions for couples or marital counseling and for work that involves romantic relationships were suggested. Understanding the attachment style and internal working model of each style can increase insight of individual behaviours and also increase understanding for their partner's reaction.

Changing family patterns and the emergence of single-parent families in Singapore served as the backdrop for the present study. As a result of these shifts in family patterns, the study was conceived to examine the long-term impacts of divorce on interpersonal trust. Specifically, the primary focus of the study was to determine the long-term impact of parental divorce on interpersonal trust in significant others and interpersonal trust in parents. A secondary aim of the study was to determine factors which moderated interpersonal trust difficulties with significant others.

A total of 106 respondents formed the sample group for this study. 53 respondents were adult children from divorced families and 53 respondents were adult children from intact families. The respondents provided demographic information and also completed three self-reports of the Dyadic Trust Scale. Results indicated that adult children from divorced families trusted both their parents less as compared to adult children from intact families. Additionally, adult children from divorced backgrounds trusted their fathers less as compared to their mothers. The results did not lend support to the hypothesis that interpersonal trust in significant others was disrupted as a result of having experienced a parental divorce.

The findings of the present study provided some useful insights into some of the long-term impacts of parental divorce on interpersonal trust in adult offspring. Additionally, the findings from the present study were also discussed in terms of how counselling psychologists and other like-minded professionals could intervene with this particular group of individuals to help them achieve effective interpersonal functioning. Suggestions were also made for future research.

The increase in use of computers in this IT age is accelerating. While this may be beneficial for adults in their work, there is an urgent need to consider the impact of this new technology on younger users. Past research suggests that younger users are more vulnerable to the negative impacts of excessive computer use. With the changing sociocultural climate brought about by the IT age, any negative impact can have far-reaching effects if not checked in time.

This research was a preliminary study to examine the impact of the IT age on 136 Secondary One students, in an all-boys school in Singapore. The study focussed on three areas: the nature of activities engaged in after compulsory school hours, nonverbal social skills and computer addiction. Its aim was to examine interrelations among these three areas. Participants were asked to record the amount of time they spent in four categories of after school activity during a 1-week mid-semestral break. The emotional subscales of the Social Skills Inventory (SSI) by Riggio (1989) were modified to measure nonverbal emotional social skills. Computer addiction was measured with a checklist adopted from the Internet Dependency Checklist by Scherer and Bost (1997, as printed in Griffiths, 1998). Data on time spent in the four categories of after school activity and on computer addiction were collected by self-report. However, peer rating was used instead of self-report for the SSI.

The study suggests that many teenage boys in Singapore in this IT age are socially isolated, and tend to be lacking in nonverbal social skills, particularly in nonverbal sensitivity. As many as 60% of them are classified as computer addicted, according to the criterion used in the present study. Data obtained suggest that voluntary use of computer for 35 to 40 hours per week or more as after school activity during school holidays is indicative of computer addiction. When differentiated by the nature of use, it is found that more than 20 hours per week of interactive computer use, and more than 25 hours per week of noninteractive computer use, are indicative of addiction.

Contrary to expectations, neither non-face-to-face activities, nor noninteractive activities, are negatively related with nonverbal social skills, but computer use is. Heavy users of computers tend to be lacking in nonverbal sensitivity and emotional control.

These findings have implications for research, and for educational policies. The author suggests that some of the effects of computer use can be diffused by the user's involvement in other activities.

This is a two part study that looks at the analogical ability of preschool children. The first part of the study focused on investigating analogical ability of preschool children based on the classical item analogy task (A:B::C:D). Comparisons were made between gender, kindergarten level and across three age groups: 4-5 years old, 5-6 years old and 6-7 year old.

The second part of the study was designed to assess the cognitive modifiability of preschool K1 and K2 children using a dynamic instrument. The intervention used was Mediated Learning Experience. Twenty four children (19 males, 5 females, age ranged from 4 year 9 month to 6 year 7 month participated in this study. Case studies were used to illustrate the MLE process in modifying children’s analogical thinking ability.

Results demonstrated that there is no significant gender difference on analogical reasoning. Older children performed better in analogical task than younger children and Kindergarten Two children performed better than Kindergarten One children in solving analogies. The author found that there was positive effect for training on preschool children’s performance on analogy problems. Limitations on this study were examined and implications for suggestions on instructions are made for promoting children’s analogical reasoning.

This research examined the applicability of the Myself-As-a-Learner-Scale (MALS) in assessing academic self-concept of Singapore students with dyslexia. Study 1 involved administration of the MALS on 155 male and 160 female Singapore mainstream school students, and Study 2 involved administration of the MALS on 40 male and 15 female Singapore students with dyslexia. Participants in both studies were required to rate 20 selfreferring statements relating to themselves as learners and problem-solvers on a five-point scale. Findings revealed significant difference in MALS scores between Singapore and British mainstream school students, but no difference between Singapore and British students with dyslexia. Some common key factors that contribute to the students' academic self-concept were identified in Singapore and British in mainstream schools. In addition, students with dyslexic in Singapore presented no significant correlation between academic self-concept and academic achievement. Whilst the MALS was found to present some reliability evidence to be used in Singapore, further research are needed to cross-validate the MALS and examine factors that contribute to Singapore students' academic selfconcept.

Students face many academic challenges and ongoing stress as part of their daily school life. Therefore, it is imperative to foster and develop students’ ability to manage and overcome such difficulties to remain buoyant, and achieve their academic potential. The present study aims to examine some student- and education-related factors influencing students’ academic buoyancy, that is, students’ capacity to overcome or effectively deal with everyday challenges in the school setting. Correlation, multiple regression and decision tree methods were used to analyse the survey data collected from 3776 lower secondary students from 11 secondary schools in Singapore. The participants, aged between 13 to 16 years old, were administered a self-report questionnaire that tapped into their perceptions and self-beliefs regarding their academic buoyancy and education-related factors to include academic self-efficacy, academic aspirations, teacher-student relationship, attitudes towards school and attitudes towards teachers and classes. Information regarding student-related factors such as their gender and course of study were also obtained in the questionnaire.

Results from this study indicated that gender, academic self-efficacy, teacher-student relationship, attitudes towards teachers and classes, and attitudes towards school were significant predictors of academic buoyancy for the whole sample, while course of study and academic aspirations did not predict buoyancy. Academic self-efficacy emerged as the most significant predictor across the three different levels of students’ academic buoyancy for both Express and Normal stream. Findings also indicated that teacher-student relationship significantly predicted buoyancy for Normal stream students but not for Express stream students. Students with positive attitudes towards teachers and classes tended to have a high level of academic buoyancy while those with negative attitudes towards school were more probable to have low level of academic buoyancy. This study also discussed the implications for interventions in schools aimed at cultivating students’ academic buoyancy.

The current study was undertaken to investigate the influence of social climate and locus of control on the treatment readiness among incarcerated male youth reformative trainees in Singapore. Addressing young offenders’ motivation for treatment has been a challenge that therapists often encounter, but has been overlooked in the literature. It is hoped that with an enhanced understanding of the factors that could impact treatment readiness, rehabilitation efforts could be better designed to address barriers to individual’s responsivity towards interventions.

Eighty-five male Reformative Trainees housed at the Reformative Training Centre under the Singapore Prison Service were recruited as participants in the present study and completed questionnaires assessing their perceptions of the institution’s social climate on three dimensions, namely ‘Hold and Support’; ‘Social Cohesion and Mutual Support’; and ‘Experienced Safety’, locus of control and level of treatment readiness. Participants’ responses were examined using correlational analyses. While non-significant results were found among the main constructs, the “Hold and Support” subscale of the social climate survey which measured the extent to which correctional staff were supportive of therapeutic interventions and therapeutic change was found to have a significant positive correlation with treatment readiness. Other significant findings showed that individual’s risk of reoffending and criminogenic needs and number of institutional misconducts correlated negatively with treatment readiness.

The implications for practice from the findings highlighted the value of creating a supportive climate for rehabilitation in an institutional setting. Specifically, correctional staff, including both prison officers and correctional rehabilitation specialists, serve a vital role in creating a supportive climate through interactions with juvenile offenders in the criminal justice system. Other implications highlighted the relevance of having more targeted interventions and resources towards offenders assessed to be of higher risk of re-offending to enhance their readiness for interventions. Limitations of the study and future directions were also discussed.

The current study aimed to explore peers’ acceptance of children with ASD within Singapore. The study assessed if the presence of social contact with children with ASD had an effect on peers’ a) level of knowledge about ASD, b) attitude ratings towards children with ASD, and c) behavioral intention ratings towards children with ASD. We also evaluated the reliability of our Autism Awareness Questionnaire (AAQ) in assessing knowledge of ASD across typically developing peers. Typically developing peers from two mainstream secondary schools participated in the study. The participants included 95 peers from school A who had social contact with children with ASD, and 100 peers from school B who did not had social contact. Data was collected via administration of questionnaire for both groups. Each participant was measured on their a) level of knowledge using the AAQ, b) attitudes using the Chedoke Attitudes Towards Individual with Handicap (CATCH) rating scale, and c) behavior intentions using the Shared Activities Questionnaire (SAQ). Almost half of the participants completed the AAQ twice for the purpose of test-retest reliability. The results indicated that peers with social contact with children with ASD did not indicate an increase in knowledge of ASD, and they also rated lower on attitudes and behavioral intentions towards children with ASD. This suggests that, while Singapore is embracing inclusive educational approaches, mere physical inclusion of children with ASD did not promote peers’ acceptance. The reliability of the AAQ was established to be in the low range. However, we are encouraged by the findings as the overall psychometric property of the AAQ was an improvement when compared to the knowledge scale used in earlier research (i.e., Campbell & Barger, 2010). With further revisions and improvements to the AAQ, it is our hope that the scale can be used in Singapore schools to measure peers’ level of knowledge of ASD.

Given the prevalence of challenging behaviours amongst students in special education (SPED) schools, there is a high need for training in building teachers’ capacity in Functional Behavioural Assessment (FBA) and function-based behavioural interventions. In planning training programmes for teachers, a range of assessment approaches were adopted to measure their existing abilities in FBA and function-based behavioural interventions. Amongst others, perception-based surveys and knowledge-based assessments were commonly used. This study conducted a comparative analysis of a perception-based survey and knowledge-based assessment by examining the scores obtained based on the order in which they were completed. Random sequencing was adopted in determining the order in which participants completed the respective surveys. Two hundred and ninety-two SPED teachers participated in the study. Results indicated that there was a significant difference in the perception-based survey scores depending on the order in which participants completed the surveys. However, there was no significant difference in the knowledge-based assessment scores regardless of the order in which the surveys were completed. The knowledge-based assessment appeared to be a more stable measure of teachers’ abilities in FBA and function-based behavioural interventions. The results also suggest that participants might have lacked the self-awareness to assess their skills. However, when the knowledge-based assessment was completed first, they provided a more precise estimation of their skills; and that knowledge-based assessment scores could predict their perception-based survey scores. Findings from this study provide insight on the use of perception-based surveys and knowledge-based assessments in measuring teachers’ abilities in FBA and function-based interventions to inform the planning of relevant training programmes.

This study, the second part of a combined study, explores the cognitive profiles of Singaporean primary school students who were diagnosed with Dyslexia. Twenty-nine students who were diagnosed with Dyslexia were, in the first part of the combined study, assessed on measures of phonological coding and orthographic coding to determine if they have surface, phonological or mixed subtype of dyslexia. In the present study, their deficits in orthographic or phonological coding were then correlated with various cognitive factors – phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory, rapid automatised naming (RAN), visual skills. Past research had found that individuals with Dyslexia show associative difficulties in these cognitive factors, hence, these correlations allow for an examination of specific correlations between reading characteristics of the students. It was hypothesised that tasks that measure orthographic coding skills will correlate significantly with tasks that measure visual skills as well as RAN abilities, while tasks that measure phonological coding skills will correlate significantly with tasks that measure phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory as well as RAN skills. The results show positive correlations between phonological coding tasks and phonological awareness and verbal short-term memory factors, as hypothesised. Orthographic coding tasks only correlated positively with specific areas of visual skills. However, RAN did not correlate with both phonological coding and orthographic coding tasks. An unexpected finding was that phonological coding tasks were found to correlate with visual skills, which was not has hypothesised. The results, while preliminary, lend support for further consideration of the various cognitive factors in the assessment and intervention of Dyslexia. The findings of the study also provide grounds for further research in the area of cognitive factors related to Dyslexia within the Singapore context.

This study is designed to investigate pre-university students' attitudes towards their mother tongue, Tamil. It was aimed at finding out the factors that were significantly related to their attitudes towards the language.

One hundred and fifty-eight Tamil students, who were randomly selected from Singapore Junior Colleges and Centralised Institutes, participated in the study. These participants completed a survey questionnaire comprising three sections: Background information, Likert scale and open-ended questions. The Likert scale was a direct measure consisting of thirteen stimulus statements measuring the subjects' attitudes towards Tamil. The general attitude of pre-university students in Singapore who are offering Tamil as their second language was found to be positive.

The results indicated that students from the middle socio-economic status used Tamil more extensively with their family, friends and general public than English. The rest preferred to use English more often. Though the subjects were proficient in both Tamil and English they used more English in their communication. However, the subjects, had positive attitudes towards Tamil and felt that they should learn the subject to maintain their culture and heritage.

One-way analysis was used to analyse the data gathered. It revealed that family background; socio-economic status and the importance of the language were positively and significantly related to the subjects' attitudes towards Tamil.

The findings showed that there exist an instrumental orientation towards the learning of the Tamil language that reflects in large measure the status and function of the language in Singapore.

Research into suicide often faces difficulties due to the taboo and the potential risk of death when working with the suicidal population. Past research has focused on risk and protective factors, while little is known about attitudes towards suicide, although attitudes may play an important role in the implementation of suicide prevention and intervention. Past research has shown the complexities and the multidimensional nature of attitudes towards suicide. This study aims to shed some light on the current attitudes towards suicide and its prevention, particularly among the young people in Singapore. This study also aims to investigate the relationship between depression and the multi-dimensional attitudes towards suicide.

A total of 232 participants, 96 males and 136 females, between the ages of 20-40 years old, completed the questionnaires. They were post-graduate students, recruited during their psychology classes. The questionnaire is made up of 38 items from the attitudes section of the Attitude Towards Suicide Questionnaire (ATTS) and Beck’s Depressions Inventory (BDI – II). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the data because a stable factor structure has not yet been established for ATTS. A ten-factor model was obtained in this study confirming again the multidimensional nature of attitudes towards suicide. The findings suggest that young adults in Singapore are not accepting of suicide, even in cases of incurable disease, but show understanding that suicide can sometimes be a relief. They hold a ‘normalized’ view of suicide, do not agree that relationship issues cause suicide, and show more agreement in the unpredictability of suicide. They hold pro-prevention attitudes, take communication of suicide intent seriously and are very optimistic about the preventability of suicide, and even report a readiness to help. There was no gender difference found in attitudes, except for the tendency for females to be less sure about their opinions. The result shows a supportive stance and possibly confidence in the prevention efforts in Singapore. While it is beyond the scope of this study, these attitudes may be able to partially account for the stability of the suicide rate in Singapore, amidst the rising suicide rates in the region and in the world. Associations between depression and attitude factors of ‘Self-Ideation’ and ‘Unpredictability/ Relation-caused’ were found. Of particular concern is the possibility of help-negation effect at work, where higher levels of depressive symptoms are linked with reduced help-seeking behavior. This may require more focus in future prevention efforts. The study findings however are limited in generalizability due to the use of a convenience sample of highly educated young people, which may not be representative of the general population of young people in Singapore and the ATTS still shows weak psychometric properties. Future studies should aim to replicate the findings and also work with populations of other age groups.