Yuwarat Yoocha. Factors predicting suicidal behavior among senior high school students in Chainat province, Thailand . Master's Degree(Health Education and Behavioral Sciences). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2006.
Factors predicting suicidal behavior among senior high school students in Chainat province, Thailand
Abstract:
Suicide is an undesirable behavior. It is a waste of life especially if it occurs with senior high
school students in early adolescence : they are the future of the country and it must be a great and
invaluable loss. There is an urgent need to understand the causes of the problem in order to solve this
problem. This cross-sectional research aimed to study suicidal behavior, and factors relating to and
predicting suicidal behavior of senior high school students in Chainat Province. The study group
consisted of 950 students selected by using multi-stage sampling method. Data were collected using
questionnaires from 15 August to 31 October, 2005. The data were analyzed by computing percentage,
arithmetic means, standard deviation, Chi-square, Pearson’s Product Moment Coefficient, and multiple
regression analysis by using Stepwise technique.
The results of the study showed that in the 6 months preceding suicide, 54.1 percent of the
students had shown suicidal behavior, 48.5 percent had suicidal thought, 3.1 percent had threatened
suicide, and 2.5 percent had attempted suicide. The variables found to relate significantly to suicidal
behavior of students (p≤0.05) were from highest to lowest, as follows : heart-breaking events
(r=0.592), depression (r=0.537), personality (r=0.402), nurturing (r=-0.399), perfectionism (r=0.350),
history of having attempted suicide in the last 12 months (r=0.321), imitating behavior from various
media (r=0.302), substances use (r=0.179), and family history as related to suicide (r=0.168). When the
predicting equation of students’ suicidal behavior was developed, it was found that there were 9
variables in the predicting equation and all of them together could have predicted students’ suicidal
behavior in 53.1 percent of the cases. The predictable variables were, in order, as follows : heart
breaking events, depression, nurturing, history of having attempted suicide in the last 12 months,
personality, imitating behavior from various media, perfectionism, family history as related to suicide,
and substances use.
In order to prevent suicidal behavior among senior high school students, preventive measures
should be done cooperatively and systematically. Starting from the measure for promoting and
developing good relationship in the family, parents / guardians should observe their children’s changed
behavior regularly. For schools, the development of lesson plans regarding problem management and
suicidal behavior surveillance measures should be done. The government must have strict measures
regarding presentation of suicidal behavior to the public by various media. For further research in order
to get more clearness about this topic, the following items should be considered : recognition of the
significance of the variable regarding accessibility to instruments for committing suicide, especially
guns ; problem management and coping ; antisocial personality ; narcissistic personality ; internet ;
cartoon magazines, genes, etc. The Qualitative research aiming to understand social and traditional
contexts related to suicidal behavior of senior high school students is also recommended