Cultural Differences, Perfectionism, and Suicidal Risk in a College Population: Does Social Problem Solving Still Matter?

The relations between cultural influences,perfectionism, social problem solving, and subsequentsuicidal risk (viz., hopelessness and suicide potential)were examined among 148 college students. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determinewhether social problem solving predicted suicidal risk(1 month later) beyond what was accounted for by ethnicstatus (Asian American or Caucasian American) and perfectionism. Results of these analysesindicated that ethnic status (Step 1) was a significantpredictor of both hopelessness and suicide potential.Furthermore, perfectionism (Step 2) was found to add significant incremental validity forpredicting variance in both outcome criteria. Incontrast, social problem solving (Step 3) addedsignificant incremental validity for predicting variancein suicide potential, but not for predicting hopelessness.Results indicate that social problem solving is a moreuseful predictor of suicide potential than ofhopelessness. Implications for future research arediscussed.