[Relationship between traditional Chinese cultural beliefs and suicide risk among Chinese medical postgraduate students].

OBJECTIVES

To study the relationship between traditional Chinese cultural beliefs and suicide risk in Chinese medical postgraduate students.

METHODS

The Chinese Traditional Cultural Belief Scale (CTCBS) and Suicidal Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ-R) were used to investigate 541 medical postgraduate students in a medical university.

RESULTS

The total score of traditional Chinese cultural belief of the medical postgraduate students was 49.68±6.85, and 66.9% of them had a clear cultural belief. The detection rate of suicide risk among the medical postgraduates was 15.7%, and 20.1% of them reported suicidal ideation within the past year. Traditional Chinese cultural belief was negatively correlated with suicide risk among the medical postgraduates (=-0.210, <0.001), and those with higher levels of cultural belief had lower SBQ-R scores (=6.255, <0.01). The medical postgraduates with lower cultural beliefs had a higher detection rate of suicide risk (28.6% 21.2% 12.7%). The students with high suicide risks had significantly lower total scores and all the dimension scores of CTCBS (<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Most medical postgraduates have clear traditional Chinese cultural beliefs, which can be beneficial to reduce suicide risk among the students.