Citation

Lockman JD, Servaty-Seib HL. J. Couns. Psychol. 2018; 65(3): 294-307.

Affiliation

Department of Educational Studies, Purdue University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/cou0000278

PMID

29672080

Abstract

There is a lack of empirically supported theories explaining suicidal ideation and few theories describe how suicidal ideation can be prevented in the context of normative human development. Rogers (2001) proposed an existential constructivist theory of suicide (ECTS) wherein existential distress and the inability to reconstruct meaning from adverse life events contribute to suicidal ideation. The ECTS includes a distinct focus on meaning reconstruction from adverse life events, which is congruent with existing research on college students and developmental frameworks used by counseling psychologists. Thus, in the present study, we tested the predictions of the ECTS in a college student sample. We collected data online from 195 college students (i.e., ages 18-25) attending a large, Midwestern university and analyzed the data using structural equation modeling.

FINDINGS provided partial support for the original ECTS. Post hoc analyses of an alternate ECTS model indicated that existential distress mediated the negative association between meaning reconstruction and suicidal ideation. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Language: en