Self-Efficacy as the Mediator of the Relationship between Paternal Approval and Suicidal Ideation among Malaysian Adolescents

Abstract

Suicide phenomenon among young generation has become a leading cause of death especially among adolescents. In Asian countries, suicidal rate is at an alarming state in which it has contributed around 60% of the world suicide cases. In order to prevent suicidal behavior, suicidal ideation need to be investigated as it happened prior any suicidal behavior. Thus, the aim of this research is to determine the relationships between paternal approval, selfefficacy and suicidal ideation among adolescents with self-efficacy as a mediator. Methods. This study used a cross-sectional research design where 682 adolescents aged between 14-17 years old were selected from different high school in Malaysia. Multistage cluster sampling was used to recruit the participants using self-administered questionnaires. The instruments used were Network of Relationships-Relationship Quality Version subscale, General Self-Efficacy Scale and Negative subscale of the Positive and Negative Suicide Ideation Inventory. For analysis, Pearson's Correlation and SPSS macro by Preacher and Hayes was used to test the objectives of this study. Results. Negative correlation was found between paternal approval and suicidal ideation as well as between self-efficacy and suicidal ideation. These findings implied that adolescents who gained more approval from their father and had a higher level of self-efficacy were less likely to have suicidal thoughts. On the other hand, positive correlation was found between paternal approval and self-efficacy which demonstrated that fathers who gave more approval to their children will develop children with higher sense of self-efficacy. For the mediation model, the relationship between paternal approval and adolescents' suicidal ideation was successfully mediated by self-efficacy. The findings implied that paternal approval is important in adolescents' life as it is able to increase adolescents' self-efficacy which then is able to reduce the tendency of having suicidal thoughts. Conclusions. The current study has identified two important factors namely paternal approval and self-efficacy that were significantly correlated with adolescents' suicidal ideation. Adolescents are less likely to develop suicide thoughts when their father imposes less restrictions and give more supports to what they want to do in life. Gaining high approval from fathers also helps in increasing adolescents' level of self-efficacy. Therefore, intervention dealing with adolescents' suicidal ideation should include parenting education for parents especially for fathers and also enhancing adolescents' self-efficacy.

Effectiveness of Mindfulness Skills on Self-Efficacy and Suicidal Ideation among First-Year Nursing Students with Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms during COVID-19 Pandemic

“…This may be explained by the fact that adolescents with high selfefficacy are better able to cope with obstacles and stressors, lowering the risk factors for depression and suicidal thoughts. This result was consistent with Wu & Yaacob, (2019), they provided a correlation between self-efficacy and suicidal ideation, implying that adolescents acquire suicidal thoughts as a result of their low self-efficacy. Furthermore, Kobayashi et al, (2015) illustrated that self-efficacy may be used as a tool for detecting people with suicidal ideation and that strengthening self-efficacy can be a beneficial technique for suicide prevention.…”

“…It allows individuals to strengthen their tolerance for ambiguity, reduce stress and anxiety caused by excessive thinking, and thereby lessen thoughts of suicide in students. This finding was in line withWu & Yaacob, (2019), who found a highly statistically significant reduction in suicidal ideation in the obsessive group after mindfulness skills training compared to pre-implementation (P = 0.005). Also,Lu et al, (2019) discovered that after eight weeks of mindfulness training, the mindfulness training group exhibited a decrease in suicidal ideation.…”

The Influence of Parenting Styles on Child-Parent Relationship Among Chinese and Bumiputera in Sabah

“…Several studies of child-parent relationships in Malaysia have only been carried out before COVID-19 (e.g. Fanti & Henrich, 2010;Ahmad et al, 2014;Yap, 2015;Wu & Yaacob, 2017;Aw et al, 2020). After the pandemic, most of the child-parent relationship studies were conducted abroad, such as in Singapore (Chung et al, 2020), Greece (Grigoropoulos, 2022), Belgium (Janssens et al, 2021), and the United States (Bate et al, 2021).…”