Inspired by the article posted by fellow
course-mate Edwin about academic stress and suicidal ideation, I decided to
look into this area in my blog (thanks Edwin).
Specifically the article stated that adolescent depression is a mediator
(as a third variable) for academic stress and suicide ideation. This means the significance of the
relationship between academic stress and suicidal ideation was significantly
reduced in magnitude when depression was included in the research model. This has huge implications on interventions
because purely focusing on reducing academic stress may not be as effective as
one would hope. One should also look
into addressing depression.
I have mentioned in my previous posts the
role of parents in preventing adolescents and young adults’ suicidal attempts
(see post on 28 Oct). To what extent
parenting is responsible for causing major depression? According to a research on perceived
parenting and risk for major depression in Chinese women (Gao et al. 2012), it
was found that high level of authoritarianism were associated with an increased
risk for major depression while high levels of warmth were associated with a
decreased risk for major depression.
This finding is the same as that in Western countries. What is most interesting is that high level
of protectiveness from both mothers and fathers were associated with a
decreased risk for major depression, which is the opposite pattern of that
observed in the Western samples. One
explanation the authors provided is that perhaps in mainland China, the father
has a psychological role in a child therefore women in China have a different
interpretation of the meaning of “protectiveness” when coming from the
father. Whilst more research is needed
to confirm the effects of “protectiveness”, adolescents and young adults can
make good use of a bit more warmth, caring and respect from their parents. The next question is what stops the parents
from doing so despite it is quite an obvious behavior?
Perhaps the answer is that the parents
themselves are not happy! According to
today’s report in the South China Morning Post, “middle-class people earning
less than HK$40,000 a month are the least satisfied with their lot, according
to an annual “happiness” index. But
Hongkongers as a whole are less happy this year – with the index slipping from
71.3 to 70.5, the Lingnan University survey found.” Well, it seems the simple answer to academic
stress, depression and suicide ideation are rooted from staying happy.
Reference
Gao, J., Li, Y., Cai., Chen, Y., Shen, S.,
Wei, Y., …Tao, M. (2012). Perceived parenting
and risk for major depression in Chinese women.
Psychological Medicine, 42, 921-930. Doi:10.1017/S0033291711001942
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