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Suicide is a serious health concern in Canada (1). Canadian suicide rates are higher than those in the US, Australia, the UK, and many other countries (2). Suicidal behaviours represent a continuum ranging from thoughts to plans to attempts to completions. The research on suicide has established that thoughts about suicide are an important risk factor and are related to future self-harming behaviour (3). Studies of suicide completers have found that 30% to 40% made at least one earlier attempt (4). Few studies exist on the prevalence of suicide ideation, plans, or attempts in specific cultural groups. However, a recent study found that minority status may increase the risk of suicidal behaviours, although the findings varied depending on the outcome examined (that is, ideation, attempts, or plans) and the groups studied (5). Cross-cultural research has found that ethnic differences and cultural values influence suicide rates (6). Cultural conflict may be exacerbated in young people with the dual pressure to conform to both their heritage and mainstream culture (7). The concept of assimilation generally assumes that individuals have more exposure and, consequently, more successful adaptation to the mainstream culture with the passage of time (8). Research has found differences in suicide risk among different generations of immigrants, with higher rates for more recent immigrants (6,9). This research has not yet assessed acculturation but has based its conclusions merely on the birth country of participants. 
The present research explored the role of acculturation and generation level on suicidality by examining suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts. We explored these factors among undergraduates of Chinese, Indo-Asian, and European descent living in Western Canada. This study’s primary goal was to identify whether cultural differences and pressures associated with acculturation are related to suicide ideation; in pursuit of this, we compared subjects who had lived in Canada for generations with those who were fairly new to the country. On the basis of previous research, we predicted that participants whose parents were born in Canada would report less suicide ideation than participants whose parents were not. Owing to the paucity of suicide prevalence and risk research for Asian individuals (5), we did not make predictions about cross-cultural differences. MethodsParticipants Participants were undergraduates from 2 large British Columbia universities. We obtained informed consent from 1283 students, who then completed questionnaires in exchange for course credit. We collected demographic information and grouped participants according to their ethnic self-designation. Only students of Chinese, Indo-Asian, and European descent were analyzed in this study. Our analyses did not include participants from smaller ethnic groups (for example, the Afro-Caribbean or Japanese communities). The final sample totalled 1135 and comprised 459 European (368 women, 91 men), 574 Chinese (429 women, 145 men), and 102 Indo-Asian (74 women, 28 men) participants. The Indo-Asian group reported their ethnic heritage to be South Asian (that is, Indian and Pakistani). Participants who were born outside North America were classified as first generation. Participants who were born in North America, but whose parents were not, were classified as second generation. Participants who were born in North America along with at least one parent were classified as third generation. Procedure Confidentiality was ensured because no identifying information was collected with the data. We collected additional information on eating disorders. The measures of suicide ideation included 3 self-report yes–no questions assessing whether participants had ever experienced any suicidal thoughts, had ever made plans to commit suicide, or had ever attempted suicide. We measured acculturation with the VIA, which measures both the degree to which participants identify with their heritage culture and the degree to which they identify with mainstream culture (8). Ten 9-point agree–disagree items made up each identification score. The VIA dimensions revealed excellent internal consistency among different Asian samples (heritage: Cronbach’s a = 0.91 to 0.92; mainstream: Cronbach’s a = 0.85 to 0.89) and high mean interitem correlations (heritage: r = 0.52 to 0.53; mainstream: r = 0.38 to 0.46). We extablished concurrent validity by comparing the scale with 7 other measures (8). We included this scale in the study to confirm that acculturation was correlated to generation level and to see whether it influenced suicide ideation above and beyond generation-level differences. ResultsTable 1 presents levels of suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts by ethnic group and generation level. Pearson chi-square statistics tests conducted for each ethnic group showed no differences among generation levels. We did not find differences across the groups of European, Indo-Asian, or Chinese descent, either. Similarly, within each ethnic group, we found no significant sex differences for thoughts, plans, or attempts.
To further explore generational differences, we also examined acculturation. Table 2 displays the analysis that confirmed generation level to be correlated with both mainstream and heritage scores on the VIA scale (r = 0.462; P < 0.01, 2-tailed; and r = –0.255; P < 0.01, 2-tailed, respectively). The VIA heritage and mainstream scores were significantly correlated with ethnic group at the P < 0.01 level (r = –0.369 and r = 0.226, respectively). Since participants of European descent were coded as 1, the negative heritage correlation and the positive mainstream correlation indicate that Chinese and Indo-Asian participants were more likely to identify with their heritage culture, whereas the European participants were more likely to identify with mainstream culture. In addition, suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts were all significantly related to each other at the P < 0.01 level (2-tailed). The VIA heritage identification score was significantly correlated to suicidal thoughts (r = –0.109; P < 0.01, 2-tailed) but not to suicidal plans or attempts.
Finally, we used logistic regression to identify the variables that explained suicide ideation. The categorical variables of ethnicity, generation level, and sex failed to meet significance as a predictor. Identification with mainstream culture also failed to meet significance. However, identification with heritage culture significantly predicted suicide ideators (B = 0.15, Wald c2 = 11.96, P < 0.001, OR = 1.16). DiscussionThis brief report finds that all 3 ethnic groups—European, Chinese, and Indo-Asian—displayed similar levels of suicide ideation. At less than 50%, these levels of ideation were much lower than the 70% reported in cross-cultural research by Marcenko and colleagues (10). Also in contrast to those research findings, we found that sex was not a significant predictor of suicide ideation. Marcenko and colleagues did not, however, assess Asian participants but, rather, Afro-Caribbean and Hispanic high school students. Research conducted on adolescents in Hong Kong has reported ideation levels around 50%, which is similar to our findings (11). The fact that ethnicity, generation level, or mainstream acculturation failed to predict differences in suicide ideation, plans, or attempts may suggest that interventions can be handled similarly for different ethnic groups. Research is beginning to confirm that the psychosocial variables related to suicide risk are similar cross-culturally and include lowered self-esteem and coping skills (12). These null findings for differences in generation level and mainstream acculturation may also reflect the nature of the diverse community in Vancouver, British Columbia. Here the Chinese and Indo-Asian communities are very large, and this may be a protective factor similar to the protective factor found by Neeleman and Wesseley in London, England (13). Our findings may lend insight into the importance of considering the community context when considering the suicide risk for any ethnic group. Research with Chinese communities has found differences in suicide rates for Chinese individuals, depending on where they live (14). The interesting finding in this report is the relation between identification with heritage culture and suicide ideation. Participants who identified closely with their heritage culture were at an increased risk for suicidal thoughts but not for suicide plans or attempts. This finding may lend support to the theory that young immigrants who live in traditional homes face added pressures due to culture clash (7). This culture-clash theory receives less support from research on Chinese individuals because Chinese immigrants report lower rates of suicide than their nonimmigrant counterparts (14). A caveat must be attached to this interesting relation between heritage identification and suicide ideation: it is really a modest strength of association, and it may weaken if other psychosocial risk factors are taken into consideration. While the initial sample size was relatively large (n = 1135), the numbers may be problematic when broken into subgroups. The null findings across generation levels may be at risk of Type II errors because the smaller numbers in the different generational subgroups reduce the statistical power available to detect differences. For example, comparisons involving the third-generation Chinese subgroup required at least 111 participants to meet a power level of 0.80 in the suicidal thoughts comparisons with the other 2 Chinese groups. More useful analyses from this paper would consider generational effect with all 3 ethnic groups combined (for example regression analyses for heritage and mainstream acculturation). These findings should be considered preliminary and may not be generalizable beyond Western Canada. It must be kept in mind that findings from a sample of undergraduates may not be generalizable to a community sample of youth from the same area. Also, this brief report did not explore psychosocial variables that may interact with ethnicity or acculturation, such as family conflict or self-esteem level, nor did we consider individual psychopathologies or substance abuse issues. Despite these limitations, it is important to know that nearly one-half of this diverse group of undergraduates had contemplated killing themselves. References1. Sakinofsky I. Suicide: the persisting challenge. Can J Psychiatry 2003;48:289–91. 2. Schmidtke A, Weinacker B, Apter A, Batt A, Berman A, Bille-Brahe U, and others. Suicide rates in the world: update. Archives of Suicide Research 2000;5:81–9. 3. Gutierrez PM, Osman A, Kopper BA, Barrios FX, Bagge CL. Suicide risk assessment in a college student population. J Counsel Psychol 2000;47:403–13. 4. Maris RW. The relationship of nonfatal suicide attempts to completed suicides. In: Maris RW, Berman AL, Maltsberger JT, Yufit RI, editors. Assessment and prediction of suicide. New York (NY): Guilford Press; 1992. p 362–80. 5. Roberts RE. Depression and suicidal behaviors among adolescents: the role of ethnicity. In: Cuellar I, Paniagua FA, editors. Handbook of multicultural mental health. San Diego (CA): Academic Press; 2000. p 359–88. 6. Bhugra D, Baldwin DS, Desai M, Jacob KS. Attempted suicide in West London, II. Inter-group comparisons. Psychol Med 1999;29:1131–9. 7. Thompson N, Bhugra D. Rates of deliberate self-harm in Asians: findings and models. Int Rev Psychiatry 2000;12:37–43. 8. Ryder AG, Alden LE, Paulhus DL. Is acculturation unidimensional or bidimensional? A head-to-head comparison in the prediction of personality, self-identity, and adjustment. J Pers Soc Psychol 2000;79:49–65. 9. Neeleman J, Mak V, Wessely S. Suicide by age, ethnic group, coroner’s verdicts and country of birth. Br J Psychiatry 1997;171:463–7. 10. Marcenko MO, Fishman G, Friedman J. Reexamining adolescent suicidal ideation: a developmental perspective applied to a diverse population. J Youth Adolesc 2000;28:121–38. 11. Lai KW, McBride-Chang C. Suicidal ideation, parenting style, and family climate among Hong Kong adolescents. Int J Psychol 2001;36:81–7. 12. Domino G, Su A, Johnson SL. Psychosocial correlates of suicide ideation: a comparison of Chinese and US rural women. Omega 2001;44:371–89. 13. Neeleman J, Wessely S. Ethnic minority suicide: a small area geographical study in south London. Psychol Med 1999:29:429–36. 14. Shiang J, Barron S, Xiao SY, Blinn R, Tam WCC. Suicide and gender in the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Chinese in the US. Transcult Psychiatry 1998;35:235–51. Author(s)Manuscript received September 2003, revised, and accepted July 2004. 1. Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 2. Doctoral Candidate, Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. 3. Associate, Odyssey Health Services, Vancouver, British Columbia. 4. Professor, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia. Address for correspondence: Dr B Gorzalka, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 e-mail: bgorzalka@psych.ubc.ca
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