Culturally Related Risk Factors of Suicidal Ideation, Intent, and Behavior Among Asian American Women

To date, research on suicidality among Asian American women has focused on descriptive statistics and factors associated with suicidal ideation or attempts. As a field, we have little understanding of the precipitants to suicidal ideation, the specificity of intent, the methods contemplated, and the degree of lethality among these women. This mixed-methods study used the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale to assess the suicidal ideation, the specificity of intent, the methods contemplated, and the degree of lethality among 173 Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese American young women of age 18-35 years (M = 23.3, SD = 3.8) who completed clinical eligibility assessments for the Asian American Women's Action for Resilience and Empowerment intervention. Among the 173 women, quantitative results indicated that 110 participants (63.6%) of age 18-35 years (M = 23.8, SD = 3.9) experienced at least one occurrence of suicidal ideation in their lifetime, and 32 participants (18.5%) reported an intent to commit suicide. Almost half of those participants (43.7%) also described plans of moderate to extremely high lethality. Qualitative results demonstrated that precipitants for suicidal ideation may be culturally relevant and include a pressure to achieve and perform, restrictive and controlling parents, and loss of power in intimate relationships. These results suggest that there is a need to examine interventions that promote family support and provide education on ways to establish healthy romantic relationships as well as decrease the internalized need for perfection.