The relationship between posttraumatic stress symptomatology and suicidal behavior in school-based adolescents

This study investigated the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and suicidal behavior, specifically suicidal ideation and suicide attempt history, while controlling for depression and gender in 106 adolescents in an urban high school. Participants completed self-report measures of the Adolescent Psychopathology Scales-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Subscale (APS-PTS), the APS-Suicide Attempt History (APS-SAH), the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire-Junior (SIQ-JR), and the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS). Analyses were conducted using a hierarchical multiple regression design to account for the relationship between PTSD symptomatology and depression. Regression results showed that after controlling for depression and gender, PTSD symptomatology was significantly related to suicidal ideation and showed a trend toward suicide attempt history. In addition, adolescents with high levels of PTSD symptomatology were more likely than peers with "average" levels of PTSD symptomatology to be currently thinking about suicide and to have made a past suicide attempt. These findings show that PTSD symptomatology has a unique relationship to adolescent suicidal behavior that cannot be explained by depression or gender. The importance of these results and their implications for future research are discussed.     

Raising healthy children through enhancing social development in elementary school: Results after 1.5 years

This study examined results of a comprehensive, multifaceted longitudinal school-based prevention program called Raising Healthy Children (RHC). RHC focuses on enhancing protective factors with the goal of promoting positive youth development, reducing identified risk factors, and preventing adolescent problem behaviors. Participants included 938 elementary students from first or second grade who were enrolled in 10 area schools in the Pacific Northwest and randomly divided into two groups, those receiving RHC and peer controls. Analyses were conducted 18 months after implementation and focused on academic and behavioral improvements within the school environment. Results using hierarchical linear modeling showed that RHC students, compared to their peers who did not receive the intervention, had significantly higher teacher-reported academic performance (t ratio=2.27, p<.001) and a stronger commitment to school (t ratio=2.16, p<.03). Similarly, teachers reported that RHC students showed a significant decrease in antisocial behaviors (t ratio=−2.43, p<.02) and increased social competency (t ratio=2.96, p<.01) compared to control peers. Regression results from parent-reported outcomes also showed that RHC students had higher academic performance, β=.082, t=2.72, p<.01 and a stronger commitment to school, β=.080, t=2.45, p<.02. Results from this study and their implications for early and long-term prevention are discussed.     

The Humean Way to China: Beyond the Stereotype

David Hume seems to receive several stereotypes and commonplace sentiments about China regarding its religion, national character, government, practices and economy, that he goes on to dismantle. Doing so, he allows the eighteenth-century reader to look at China from a different perspective. This perspective can still be useful especially today, when the “immense distance” between China and Europe has been reduced and, as Hume would say, almost everything we use is Chinese. In the name of an ambivalent European tradition, we are often inclined to revive these commonplace sentiments (for example, the uniformity of Chinese character) and neglect that part of our own tradition that tries to understand what is behind them and that also offers us the tools to go beyond them. This study endeavors to assemble an array of Hume’s scattered remarks, consider them in their context, and explore their possible sources in order to obtain not only a more Humean China, but also a more Chinese Hume.     

A Longitudinal Investigation of Depression,Hopelessness, Social Support,and Major and Minor Life Events and Their Relation to Suicidal Ideation in Adolescents

The longitudinal relationship of psychological and social-environmental factors with adolescent suicidal ideation over a 1-year-period was examined in a sample of 374 high school students. Students were assessed twice over a 1-year period with measures of depression, hopelessness, major negative life events, daily hassles, social support, and suicidal ideation. At the initial assessment, daily hassles and negative life events for males and social support and depression for females were significant factors related to suicidal ideation levels 1 year later. Changes in depression and hopelessness were significantly related to changes in suicidal ideation over the 1 year interval for males and females. Differences found between males and females in the relationship of psychological and social-environmental variables with suicidal ideation supports the need to examine gender specific relationships when conducting research on suicidal behavior in adolescents.