Suicide prevention on college campuses: What works and what are the existing gaps? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To examine the effects of universal and targeted suicide prevention programs on relevant outcomes in college campuses. Methods: College suicide prevention programs published from 2009 to 2018 were assessed on outcomes including knowledge, skills, self-efficacy, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behaviors. Effects of the interventions on outcome variables with sufficient studies to warrant meta-analysis (ie, knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy) were meta-analyzed. Studies reporting on the remaining outcomes (ie, suicidal ideation and behaviors) were systematically reviewed. Results: Significant increases in suicide prevention knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy were observed in universal prevention interventions that typically employed gatekeeper prevention strategies. Evidence of reductions in suicidal ideation and behaviors was observed across targeted suicide prevention programs for at-risk students. Conclusion: Prevention programs are beneficial for training those likely to come in contact with people endorsing suicidality, but further research is needed to show that suicide interventions can consistently have significant effects on suicidal students as well.     

The Effect of Economic Standing,Individual Preferences,and Co-ethnic Resources on Immigrant Residential Clustering 1

Our study examines how immigrants cluster in co-ethnic neighborhoods. We systematically explore the effects of three factors on the co-ethnic clustering of immigrants: economic resources, co-ethnic preferences, and the use of co-ethnic information sources. The study is based on a unique data set that provides rarely available rich information on housing search collected in Toronto in 2006. Focusing on Asian Indians and Chinese immigrants, the results clearly suggest that of all preferences, only co-ethnic preference is related to co-ethnic clustering of the two groups when income and use of co-ethnic resources are taken into consideration, and that levels of co-ethnic clustering are not related to the economic resources of immigrants. The findings also reveal that some effects are distinctive to specific groups. Although immigrants use various co-ethnic resources to obtain housing information, only the use of co-ethnic real estate agents is significant, and that only for the clustering of Chinese, not for Asian Indians.     

University Binge Drinking Patterns and Changes in Patterns of Alcohol Consumption Among Chinese Undergraduates in a Hong Kong University

Abstract

Objective: To examine patterns of binge drinking and changes in drinking patterns among Chinese university students. Participants and Methods: Responses to an anonymous questionnaire were compared between a random sample of 411 second year Chinese undergraduate students in 2006 and 2,630 first year students from the previous year. Students reporting any symptoms of alcohol abuse were classified as alcohol abusers whereas those reporting repeated inability to curtail use were categorized as alcohol dependent. Results: After 1 year of university, greatly increased rates of past-month drinking of different degrees were found in both genders. Binge drinking among second year undergraduates was significantly correlated with male gender, living in a student residence hall, smoking, drinking to relieve stress, and having friends who frequently drank. Conclusions: Alcohol misuse is a health hazard to Chinese students in a university environment. Proactive policies aimed at preventing harmful alcohol use should be considered by university authorities.     

Disparities Between HIV Testing Levels and the Self-Reported HIV-Negative Status of Sexually Active College Students

The methodological issues of using self-reported human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing history to determine HIV infection status are understudied. This study aimed to assess the disparities between HIV testing history and self-reported HIV status, with a specific objective of estimating the prevalence of self-reported HIV-negative status in sexually active students who had never had an HIV test (inaccurate self-disclosure). Participants were recruited from four Hong Kong universities; 255 students were included in the analysis, with 16.1% of participants being men who have sex with men (MSM). Overall, 81.6% of participants reported they never had been tested for HIV, with inaccurate self-disclosure by 65.9% of participants. Among participants who used condoms inconsistently, only 20.2% had had HIV tests, with inaccurate self-disclosure by 66.7% of subjects. Among MSM students, only 36.6% had had HIV tests, with inaccurate self-disclosure by 61.0% of participants. Among MSM students who used condoms inconsistently, only 35.1% had had HIV tests, with inaccurate self-disclosure by 62.2% of participants. The findings raise concerns about the use of self-reported HIV status in clinical practice and research. The low prevalence of HIV testing found suggests that interventions to promote HIV testing should be continued.     

Determinants of Friendship Choices in Multiethnic Society

This paper examines the determinants of interethnic friendship patterns with the majority group and coethnic friendship ties. The analysis is based on a specially constructed data set from three separate sources. Our analysis indicates that (1) participation in ethnic business tends to substantially lower chances of developing friendship with the majority group; (2) individual socioeconomic characteristics strongly affects coethnic friendship; (3) previous experiences of friendship with the majority group are related to the level of friendship ties with the majority group; and (4) neighborhood qualities do not related to friendship choices of minority groups. Implications of the results are discussed.     

Economic Changes in Canadian Neighborhoods

Population Research and Policy Review - In this paper, we addressed three questions. First, how transient are poorneighborhoods? Second, is the distribution of different racial and ethnicgroups...     

Migration among East and Southeast Asian Economies

Conventional studies focus on why migration occurs between a particular pair of places. Our study asks a different question: what characteristics of the origin and destination places can explain migration flows between any two places in a region. Our study explores how economic, political, and geographic factors influence bilateral migration flows within a region in which various countries are increasingly being integrated into the regional as well as into the global economy. Drawing from diverse data sources, we explore migration flows among various economies in East and Southeast Asia between 2000 and 2005 and 2005 and 2010. Our analyses yielded two major findings. First, the relationship between economic factors and the volume of migration flows depends on the overall economy in the region. Second, the findings reveal a consistently robust and significant relationship between geographic proximity and migration flow. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Empowering Leadership,Psychological Empowerment and Employee Outcomes: Testing a Multi‐level Mediating Model

This study examined the effects of empowering leadership on employees in a customer service organization, using data from 266 employees and their supervisors from 41 work teams in a division of a large Hong Kong telecommunications corporation. Empowering leadership had acceptable levels of within‐group agreement and between‐group variability, providing support for its analysis as a group‐level construct. Testing a multi‐level model in which psychological empowerment was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between both within‐group and between‐group empowering leadership and individual outcomes, empowering leadership was associated with psychological empowerment at both levels. There was evidence of significant mediation effects at both the individual and group levels. These findings underline the importance of analysing both within‐group and between‐group differences in empowering leadership and their effects on individual attitudes and behaviours.     

Offending behaviours of persons with schizophrenia: a case review of psychiatric halfway houses in Hong Kong

Persons with schizophrenia are believed to have a higher risk for criminal offending, especially for violent offences. Offending behaviour among schizophrenics is mediated by a variety of factors such as substance abuse and clinical symptoms. However, existing studies have failed to identify the association between those mediating factors and particular types of offence. This study examines the association between substance abuse, clinical symptoms and different types of offences among persons with schizophrenia. Three hundred and sixty eight case files of residents diagnosed with schizophrenia in four psychiatric halfway houses in Hong Kong were reviewed. Substance abuse, but not clinical symptoms, was associated with general conviction rate. Violent-related offences were found to be positively associated with paranoid delusion; persons with common thought disorders, negative symptoms and who abused substances were more likely to commit property crimes. The causes and mediating factors of various offences were different. It is concluded that attention should be given to the recent mental status, clinical symptoms and social condition in studying the offending behaviours of persons with schizophrenia.