Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:339-344
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Depression, hopelessness, and suicidal behavior in Chinese and American psychiatric patients
JA Chiles, KD Strosahl, ZY Ping, MC Michael, K Hall, R Jemelka, B Senn and C Reto
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle 98104.
The authors compared 37 patients in the People's Republic of China and 46
patients in the United States who were having difficulty with suicidal
thinking or behavior. Hopelessness, reasons for living, and suicidal
efficacy showed none of the expected relationships with suicidal intent
among the Chinese patients, but the two groups were similar on many
variables theoretically related to suicidality. Chinese patients were less
likely to communicate suicidal intent and rated suicide as less effective
at solving problems. The authors examine such variations in the light of
possibly different cultural approaches to suicidal behavior.
