International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology ( IF 5.900 ) Pub Date : 2020-05-12 , DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2020.03.005 Bob Lew 1 , Augustine Osman 2 , Jenny Mei Yiu Huen 3 , Ching Sin Siau 4 , Mansor Abu Talib 5 , Jia Cunxian 6 , Caryn Mei Hsien Chan 7 , Angel Nga Man Leung 8
Background/Objective
The United States (US) and China are the two largest economies, but recent and directly comparable studies on suicide-related behaviors in the two countries are lacking. By using the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R), item-level comparison was performed in assessing self-reported suicide-related behaviors between the US and Chinese undergraduates.
Method
This study involved a total of 3,185 college students aged between 18 to 24 years (1,185 US college students, and 2,000 Chinese students who were randomly selected from a large sample of 11,806 Chinese college students). Participants filled out the 4-item SBQ-R.
Results
Participants’ responses were compared by country and sex. There was a higher overall risk of suicide-related behaviors among US students (24.3%) compared to Chinese students (17.0%). US students also reported higher lifetime attempt, past-year ideation, and lifetime threat. US female college students reported the highest suicide-related behaviors compared to other sub-groups.
Conclusions
There is a need to tailor specific interventions to alleviate college students’ suicide-related behaviors in the US and China, with a particular focus on US females.