The Personal Risk Factors For Suicidal Ideation And The Effects Of Group Psychological Intervention In Junior High Students

Suicide, as a severe problem of social and public health, has been brought to the hub of attention all over the world, especially for the suicide in adolescents. It is estimated that more than1,000,000people take their own lives annually. In our country, the prevalence of suicide is noticeably higher than both that in the United States and the average of the world. According to the investigation and statistics, the suicide death in our country accounts about30%for that all over the world and the annual suicide mortality is about23for every100,000people. Suicide has been ranked as the fifth leading cause of death in our country. What is more, adolescents are becoming as the high risk population for suicide. In our country, suicide constitutes one of the first top three causes of death in adolescences, and is increasing alarmingly every year.The causes of adolescent suicide are complicated. According to the view of Richard Lerner’s development contextualism, a person is the main constructor of the context. So, for adolescents themselves, the subject of suicide, should have some personal risk factors, which play much more important roles in suicide behavior. We specially stress that suicide is a process of a series psychological behaviors, and by active intervention to the personal risk factors, the rate of suicidal iodation and behavior should be decreased dramatically.Our study was proposed in two parts. Part1: The aim of this part was to explore the personal risk factors for suicide in junior high students. We firstly selected some junior high students as the study subjects, and then investigated the personal risk factors by standardized questionnaires. Finally, we determined the personal risk factors for suicidal ideation by statistical analysis. Part2： The assignment for this part was to give the students active group psychological intervention and to evaluate the effects of the group psychological intervention. According to the personal risk factors that were found in the study of part1, we designed the corresponding intervention contents and methods. Considering that the number of students was so many and they were still studying in the school, we adopted group psychological intervention for them. The primary evaluation index of outcome was the reduction of suicidal ideation, the changes of personal risk factors, and their relations.By investigation of the1815junior high students, we found that the prevalence of suicidal ideation was18.18%in the subjects, which meant a comparatively high level. The risk personal factors for suicidal ideation included such traits of personality as introversion, neuroticism and psychoticism; suicide attitudes, especially attitudes such as acceptance, surporting and tolerance towards the nature of suicidal behavior, the suicide victims and the relatives of the suicide victim. Negative emotion, especially depression, anxiety and loneliness, affected suicidal ideation evidently. Sleep problems, for example, the prolonged time between going to bed and falling sleep, lack of energy during daytime, might also influence their suicidal ideation. These factors might affect suicidal ideation directly and/or indirectly by mediators.According to the above personal risk factors for suicidal ideation, we carried out a series of group psychological intervention during about20weeks. The contents included as follows:1) Basic psychological knowledge, such as cognition, emotion and will, and the interactions among them. Discussing the factors influencing our psychological everyday activities, including both external‐environmental factors and internal‐personal factors. Stressing the importance of internal‐personal factors in dealing with the pressure of studying, life events and environmental changes.2) The knowledge about personality and its influencing factors. Helping them to analyze the characters of their own personality. Guiding them how to overcome the weakness and how to use their strongpoint in adjusting their psychological status and their school life.3) Recognizing the common emotions, such as joy, depression, anxiety, anger, fear and so on. Understanding the influence of negative emotions on daily life, and mastering the skills of getting rid of them.4) Recognizing loneliness. Understanding the importance of joining group activities. Telling them the skills of communicating with classmates or other compeers.5) Recognizing the harm of sleep problem. Stressing the relationship between good sleep and psychological/physical health, studying activities and emotion reactions. Mastering the manifestations, causes and countermeasures of sleep problems.6) Recognizing suicidal ideation and behaviors. Understanding the process of suicide and its risk factors. Helping them to develop the correct attitude to suicide.7) Teaching them some simple but practical skills of self‐psychological interventions, such as self‐analysis of negative emotions and self‐relaxation.After group psychological intervention, the prevalence of suicidal ideation was reduced dramatically from18.18%to9.86%in total. For the students with suicidal ideation before intervention,46.36%of them were got rid of the ideation after intervention. These results indicated that group psychological intervention for junior high students reduced suicidal ideation remarkably. At the same time, their depression, anxiety and loneliness relieved greatly. The quality of their sleep was also increased remarkably. Their attitude towards suicide has been changed, they tended to reject and refuse suicide behaviors. All these changes contributed significantly to the reduction of suicidal ideation. Although we did not notice the changes of their personality characters, the effects on reduction of suicidal ideation might be due to the use of their personality strongpoint because the time of intervention was too short. The conclusion of this study is as follows. The prevalence of suicidal ideation in junior high students is at a comparatively high level. The personal risk factors play very important roles in suicidal ideation. The group psychological intervention aiming at the personal risk factors can reduce the prevalence of suicidal ideation effectively.