Citation

Taliaferro LA, Muehlenkamp JJ, Jeevanba SB. J. Am. Coll. Health 2019; ePub(ePub): 1-5.

Affiliation

Division of Counseling and Educational Psychology , University of Missouri-Kansas City , Kansas City , Missouri , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07448481.2019.1583655

PMID

30908153

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To identify risk and protective factors associated with greater emotional distress and suicide ideation among international college students. PARTICIPANTS: International students (n = 435) from two Midwestern and two Southeastern universities in the US.

METHODS: Online surveys were administered that measured emotional distress, past-year suicide ideation, entrapment, cultural stress, family conflict, perfectionism, ethnic discrimination, interpersonal needs, ethnic identity, and cultural sanctions against suicide.

RESULTS: In final linear regression analyses, higher levels of entrapment, unmet interpersonal needs, and ethnic discrimination were significantly associated with increased emotional distress. Only unmet interpersonal needs remained significantly associated with greater past-year suicide ideation in a multivariate regression analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians working with international students and prevention programmers targeting this population should address students' perceptions of entrapment, ethnic discrimination, and especially unmet interpersonal needs in efforts to decrease or prevent students' feelings of emotional distress and suicide ideation.

Language: en

Keywords

Discrimination; distress; international; suicide; support