Department of Educational Psychology
Drinking, Depression, and Suicide Intentions Among Chinese Adolescents [高中生饮酒行为抑郁状态与自杀意念之间的关系]
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
10-2016
Citation
Newman, I. M., Ding, L. Y., Pu, J., Shell, D. F., Qian, L. (2016). 高中生,饮酒行为、抑郁状态与自杀意念之间的关系 [Drinking, depression, and suicide intentions among Chinese adolescents]. Zhongguo Xue Xiao Wei Sheng [Chinese Journal of School Health], 37(10-B):132–135.
Abstract
[translated abstract]
Aim: This study explored the relationship between alcohol use, depression and suicide intentions among a sample of 326 high school students in Henan Province, China. Method: The questionnaire contained self-report alcohol use/nonuse items. Depression was measured with the Child Depression Inventory–Short version (CDI-S), and the suicide intention was measured by answers to questions adapted from the United States Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Participants were high schools students in Henan Province. Main findings: Analysis of the data showed students who drank alcohol had average scores for symptoms of depression, and that drinkers’ depression symptom scores were higher than nondrinkers’ scores. Students who self-reported lower than average academic performance at school also reported higher average depression symptom scores. A significant relationship was found between suicide ideation and alcohol use. Alcohol use and depression both increased the odds of a student reporting suicide ideation. Conclusion: Results suggest a need for more attention to the relationships of these variables before well-grounded educational interventions to reduce the likelihood of suicide can be introduced. A useful first step would be to carefully assess the ways each of these variables and possibly other variables relate to suicide ideation with the possibility that depression and alcohol use are mediating variables.