Problem-solving skills and perceived stress among undergraduate students: The moderating role of hardiness.

This study was designed to examine the relationships between problem-solving skills, hardiness, and perceived stress and to test the moderating role of hardiness in the relationship between problem-solving skills and perceived stress among 500 undergraduates from Malaysian public universities. The analyses showed that undergraduates with poor problem-solving confidence, external personal control of emotion, and approach-avoidance style were more likely to report perceived stress. Hardiness moderated the relationships between problem-solving skills and perceived stress. These findings reinforce the importance of moderating role of hardiness as an influencing factor that explains how problem-solving skills affect perceived stress among undergraduates.

Problem-Solving Skills and Suicidal Ideation Among Malaysian College Students: the Mediating Role of Hopelessness.

OBJECTIVE: Recent evidence suggests that suicidal ideation has increased among Malaysian college students over the past two decades; therefore, it is essential to increase our knowledge concerning the etiology of suicidal ideation among Malaysian college students. This study was conducted to examine the relationships between problem-solving skills, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation among Malaysian college students. METHODS: The participants included 500 undergraduate students from two Malaysian public universities who completed the self-report questionnaires. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling estimated that college students with poor problem-solving confidence, external personal control of emotion, and avoiding style were more likely to report suicidal ideation. Hopelessness partially mediated the relationship between problem-solving skills and suicidal ideation. CONCLUSION: These findings reinforce the importance of poor problem-solving skills and hopelessness as risk factors for suicidal ideation among college students.

Problem-solving skills appraisal mediates hardiness and suicidal ideation among malaysian undergraduate students.

OBJECTIVES: Recent evidence suggests that suicidal ideation is increased among university students, it is essential to increase our knowledge concerning the etiology of suicidal ideation among university students. This study was conducted to examine the relationships between problem-solving skills appraisal, hardiness, and suicidal ideation among university students. In addition, this study was conducted to examine problem-solving skills appraisal (including the three components of problem-solving confidence, approach-avoidance style, and personal control of emotion) as a potential mediator between hardiness and suicidal ideation. METHODS: The participants consisted of 500 undergraduate students from Malaysian public universities. RESULTS: Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) estimated that undergraduate students with lower hardiness, poor problem-solving confidence, external personal control of emotion, and avoiding style was associated with higher suicidal ideation. Problem-solving skills appraisal (including the three components of problem-solving confidence, approach-avoidance style, and personal control of emotion) partially mediated the relationship between hardiness and suicidal ideation. CONCLUSION: These findings underline the importance of studying mediating processes that explain how hardiness affects suicidal ideation.

Negative automatic thoughts as a mediator of the relationship between depression and suicidal behaviour in an at-risk sample of Malaysian adolescents.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the mediating role of negative automatic thoughts in the relationship between depression and suicidal behaviour in a sample of at-risk Malaysian adolescents. METHOD: A total of 1441 adolescents were initially recruited via multistage cluster sampling. Subsequently, 294 at-risk adolescents were selected for further analyses through a specified cut-off score. RESULTS: The results showed significant positive relationships among the study variables. Specifically, negative automatic thoughts emerged as a significant mediator in the relation between depression and suicidal behaviour (z = 7.15, p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that depressed adolescents are at high risk for a host of negative thought processes which in turn lead to suicidal behaviour. The study limitations and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Problem-solving skills and hardiness as protective factors against stress in Iranian nurses.

Nursing is a stressful occupation, even when compared with other health professions; therefore, it is necessary to advance our knowledge about the protective factors that can help reduce stress among nurses. The present study sought to investigate the associations among problem-solving skills and hardiness with perceived stress in nurses. The participants, 252 nurses from six private hospitals in Tehran, completed the Personal Views Survey, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Problem-Solving Inventory. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyse the data and answer the research hypotheses. As expected, greater hardiness was associated with low levels of perceived stress, and nurses low in perceived stress were more likely to be considered approachable, have a style that relied on their own sense of internal personal control, and demonstrate effective problem-solving confidence. These findings reinforce the importance of hardiness and problem-solving skills as protective factors against perceived stress among nurses, and could be important in training future nurses so that hardiness ability and problem-solving skills can be imparted, allowing nurses to have more ability to control their perceived stress.