Gender Differences in Factors Associated with Suicidal Ideation among Adolescents

Abstract

The objective of the study was to find out differences on psychological effects of terrorism and coping strategies adopted by men in direct and indirect exposed groups. The sample was taken from two strata: Participants directly exposed to terrorist attacks and those who were indirectly exposed (i.e. individuals exposed through social media). Those who volunteered to participate in the study were administered: Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; Derogatis & Melisaratos, 1983) and Brief COPE (Carver, 1997), translated into indigenous language. The results indicate that directly exposed group shows significantly higher scores on somatization, phobic anxiety and paranoid ideation as compared to indirectly exposed group. The directly exposed group scored high on self-distraction and venting whereby indirectly exposed group scored high on denial, humor and acceptance. Implications for the implementation of community based psychological interventions to counter the effects of terrorism are hereby suggested.