Determinants of suicide ideation: a comparison of Chinese and American college students

A LISREL model that incorporates both social and psychological factors was used to explain Chinese and American college students' suicide ideation. Questionnaire data were obtained from one Chinese sample (N = 320) from four universities in Beijing and one American sample (N = 452) from one university in the Rocky Mountain area. As in the American sample, Chinese females score higher on the ideation scale than Chinese males, but the overall rate is lower for the Chinese than for the American college students. The findings in the American data support previous literature that family cohesion and religiosity are inversely related to suicide ideation, while the Chinese data suggest a positive correlation between religiosity and suicide ideation. This article offers a comparison of different cultural environments for Chinese and American adolescent development.