Self Oriented Perfectionism and Emotional Competence as Relation to Suicidal Ideation Among Adolescents

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the relative contribution of stressful life events, self-oriented perfectionism and emotional competence in determining suicidal ideation among adolescents. The sample for this study consisted of 107 adolescents with suicidal ideation, selected from different schools of Agra and Mathura district. The age range of the sample was 14-17 years. Child Adolescent Perfectionism Scale (Flett et al., 1987) was used for measuring self-oriented perfectionism, stressful life events was measured by ICMR Psychosocial Stress Questionnaire (Shrivastav, 1996). The Scale of Emotional Competencies (Bhardwaj and Sharma, 1998) was used for measuring emotional competence and Suicidal Ideation was measured by Suicidal Ideation Scale (Sisodia and Bhatnagar, 2011). The study was conducted into two parts. Part A dealt with the study of relative contribution of stressful life events, self-oriented perfectionism and emotional competence towards suicidal ideation among adolescents and part B aimed to see the effectiveness of psychological intervention on suicidal ideation among adolescents. 17 adolescents identified as having average suicidal ideation and who showed their willingness were taken as sample from the sample of part A of the study. They were received psychological intervention (cognitive restructuring and Jacobson s Progressive Muscle Relaxation) of six month duration. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to study the significance of difference between pre and post measures. Multiple regression analysis showed that emotional competence has highest contribution in determination of suicidal ideation and self-oriented perfectionism has least contribution in determining suicidal ideation. Another important finding of the present study showed the effectiveness of psychological intervention (Cognitive Restructuring and Jacobson s Muscle Relaxation) in reducing suicidal ideation among adolescents. newline newline newline