PhD Theses and Dissertations

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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ETHNIC SELF-DISCREPANCY IN AFGHAN REFUGEES AND NATIVE PUKHTOONSIN NWEP
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2004) Muharmad Jahan Zeb Khan
The purpose of the research was to find out ethnic self-discrepancy among Pukhtoon Afghan refugees and native Pukhtoon population in NWFP. Besides determining differences in Pukhtoons’ Ideal and Real selves, the dynamics of interpersonal relationships between the two stated populations were also explored. The study was carried out into two phases viz., Preliminary Study and Main Study. In the preliminary phase, an Adjectives Checklist in Pukhto(PACL) was constructed for use in the second phase of the study. Keeping in view the Ideal and Real Pukhtoon character, adjectives were generated and evaluated by a team of experts. Out of the original pool of 182 adjectives, only 66 survived the process of qualitative evaluation by the experts. After calculating item-total correlations and factor analysis on a sample of 200 Pukhtoon students, 53 items were retained. The items were grouped under 8 factors, extracted after Varimax rotation. Values of reliability and validity were recorded to be significant at high levels. The Main Study was carried out to find out the ethnic self-discrepancy and ethnic self-concept of Pukhtoons on both sides of the Durand line. A sample of 200 Pukhtoons, including Afghan refugees and native Pukhtoons, was selected. Pakistani sample was the matched group of Afghani sample. PACL was used as an instrument for data collection. Self-discrepancy was found to be significant on Full scale as well as on subscales level (p< .0001) as a whole and for both males and females separately. Discrepancy was also found to exist at high level of significance for both Afghani and Pakistani Pukhtoons’ samples. High discrepancy group shows low ethnic self-concept as compared to Low discrepancy group in both of the samples. In case of Pakistani sample, both in High and Low discrepancy groups, self-perception was significantly higher as compared to their perception of Afghani Pukhtoons on PACL. Adjectives with high mean scores have been found to be confirming the literary and stereotypic concept of Pukhtoons in the contemporary Pukhtoon society.
A CROSS- CULTURAL STUDY OF CHILD REARING PRACTICES AND THEIR EFFECT ON PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT.
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, 1991-04) NASEEM R. SAHIBZADA Supervised by (Dr. Mrs. Mah Nazir Riaz)
The main purpose of the present study was to find out the major difference in child rearing techniques, used by Pakistani and Kenyan mothersandtoexplore their effects on personality development. For this purpose, a total of 161 families were randomly drawn from a population of Peshawar (Pakistan) and Nairobi (Kenya). From each family, a mother and one child were included in the sample. The study was carried in two parts. In part A, the main difference in child rearing techniques were studied and an unstructered questionnaire on mothers, was administered. Part B explored the effects of child rearing techniques on personality dimensions. Here CAT was administered on their children. The results revealed that Kenyan mothers prefered breast feeding more as compared to Pakistani mothers (P<.01). Bottle feeding, on the other hand, was less preferred by Kenyan mothers as compared to Pakistani mothers cP<.01). In both the cultural groups, a higher percentage of mothers belonging to joint family system preferred bottle feeding in contrast to the nucleus family system (P<0.1). The data further revealed that a high percentage of Pakistani mothers wean and toilet train their children earlier (P<.01), as compared to Kenyan mothers. Moreover, mothers belonging to the higher income groups in Pakistan as well as Kenya, toilet train their children earlier as compared to lower income group (P<.01). In the case of punishment, as a mode of discipline, a higher percentage of Pakistani mothers punish their children for misbehaviour, as compared to Kenyan mothers (P<.05). In joint family system, mothers of both the cultural groups, reward their children for good behaviour more, in contrast to nucleus family system (P<.05). The results also revealed that mothers from both the cultures, belonging to higher income groups, reward good school work more as compared to lower to lower income groups (P<.05). The results of Part B revealed that independance was highly related to bottle feeding (P<.01) whereas, breast feeding shows no such relationship. Furthermore, the sex of the child shows a significant relationship with aggressive behaviour (P<.05). Thus, a high percentage of boys, of both the cultural, groups exhibit aggressive behaviour more frequently as compared to girls.
A CROSS- CULTURAL STUDY OF CHILD REARING PRACTICES AND THEIR EFFECT ON PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT.
(Department of Pyschology, University of Peshawar, 1991-04) NASEEM R. SAHIBZADA
The main purpose of the present study was to find out the major difference in child rearing techniques, used by Pakistani and Kenyan mothersandtoexplore their effects on personality development. For this purpose, a total of 161 families were randomly drawn from a population of Peshawar (Pakistan) and Nairobi (Kenya). From each family, a mother and one child were included in the sample. The study was carried in two parts. In part A, the main difference in child rearing techniques were studied and an unstructered questionnaire on mothers, was administered. Part B explored the effects of child rearing techniques on personality dimensions. Here CAT was administered on their children. The results revealed that Kenyan mothers prefered breast feeding more as compared to Pakistani mothers (P<.01). Bottle feeding, on the other hand, was less preferred by Kenyan mothers as compared to Pakistani mothers cP<.01). In both the cultural groups, a higher percentage of mothers belonging to joint family system preferred bottle feeding in contrast to the nucleus family system (P<0.1). The data further revealed that a high percentage of Pakistani mothers wean and toilet train their children earlier (P<.01), as compared to Kenyan mothers. Moreover, mothers belonging to the higher income groups in Pakistan as well as Kenya, toilet train their children earlier as compared to lower income group (P<.01). In the case of punishment, as a mode of discipline, a higher percentage of Pakistani mothers punish their children for misbehaviour, as compared to Kenyan mothers (P<.05). In joint family system, mothers of both the cultural groups, reward their children for good behaviour more, in contrast to nucleus family system (P<.05). The results also revealed that mothers from both the cultures, belonging to higher income groups, reward good school work more as compared to lower to lower income groups (P<.05). The results of Part B revealed that independance was highly related to bottle feeding (P<.01) whereas, breast feeding shows no such relationship. Furthermore, the sex of the child shows a significant relationship with aggressive behaviour (P<.05). Thus, a high percentage of boys, of both the cultural, groups exhibit aggressive behaviour more frequently as compared to girls.
A study of Distinction Between Intelligence and Creativity and Some of Their Correlates Amonga Group of Pakistani Children
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, 1978) Mahnazir Riaz
A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND FAMILY
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, 1989-10) RAAT WAZ Supervised By: Dr. S. Zulfigqar Gilani
The present research was designed to study the relationship of individual psychopathology and the family. For this purpose psychotic and neurotic patients were selected from the psychiatry wards of Lady Reading and Khyber Teaching Hospitals. Their families were approached and those families were kept in the sample which agreed to co-operate. An equal number of families were selected who did not have a neurotic or psychotic member. Different psychological tests were administered to each member of the family in every category. The purpose of these tests was to assess the mental health, adjustment of a person in the family and the ego-strength of each family member. The aim was to see the effects of a disturbed person on other members of the family and the contribution of the family, if any, in the disturbance of such a member. The results indicate that the Presence of at disturbed member in the family effects others; the disturbance in the parental relationship effects the Psychological condition of the children. Comparison of the different categories of families revealed no Significant difference on two of the tests. On Family Adjustment Test there was ® significant difference between different groups.
A STUDY OF THE THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF FAITH AND MENTORS IN MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, 1986-05) SYEDA Farhana Jahangir; Dr.S. Zulfiqar Gilani
The present research was designed to study the therepeutic effects of faith and religious mentors in mental health problems. For this purpose number of different religious mentors were approached. They helped in the selection and contact with the subjects who once suffered from psychological problems and received faith therapy. It was also ascertained that these subjects did not receive any other kind of therepeutic treatment. The information regarding the nature of psychological disturbance, severity of the problem and duration of faith therapy was collected and cross checked by interviewing the subjects and their families. On the basis of this information every, subject's case history was prepared. The symptoms shown at the time of distrubance were taken from their case histories and diagnosed with the help of DSM-III. It was noticed that the majority of the subjects included in the present study were severly disturbed and their psychopathology bordered on the psychotic or was clearly psychotic. At the time of this research five different objective and standardzed tests were adminstered to every subject individually, to measure psychological health. According to these test results as well as the verbal reports of the subjects, they are all functioning normally at present. The results indicate that people Living in this culture are likely to benifit from faith therapy. An attempt is made to explain these results within the context of our socio-religious culture.
ANALYSIS OF THEMES OF CHILDRENS READERS { URDU IN TERMS OF ACHIEVEMENT, AFFILIATION AND POWER MOTIVES IN PAKISTAN
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, 1985) Mahar Bano
The present research was designed to study the dominant motivational trends in Pakistani society by means of thematic analysis of popular Urdu short stories for children written by Pakistani writers during the period 1947-82. For this purpose a total of 250 short stories were selected fror. different children's magazines and readers published in Pakistan during this period. The stories were further categorized into three time periods, 1947-1958, 1959-1970 and 1971-1982 according to their probable years of publication. These periods roughly correspond to the three phases of political development in Pakistan. The first time period contains 72 stories, the second has 79 and the third contains 99 stories. An exploratory study of 22 children's text book stories in Urdu, published by the N.W.F.P. Text Book Board from 1981 onward was also undertaken to see if the “text book" stories were any different form "popular" ones. The stories were analyzed in terms of n Achievement, n Affiliation and n Power. The guide for coding the motives was McClelland's method of “coding historical source materials for motivational variables" (1975). These motives, as borne out by previous studies, are productive of great societal consequences including economic development, war, peace and conquest (McClelland; 1961 and 1975).Results of the present research show that among the above three motives, n Power, on the whole is highest, n Achievement is lowest and n Affiliation is in between, and these differences are significant (Table Nos.5 and 1.0). That n Achievement is consistently extremely low, while n Affiliation follows n Power rather tamely, perhaps as a partially balancing factor is also clearly borne out by Table No.5 and Figure No.IvCertain other aspects of these results e.g., aifferences. ‘i between magazines and readers, have also been highlighted in different tables and figure. Figure No. V and VI are particularly worth looking at in this connection. An attempt has been made to discuss these results in terms of value/incentives and expectancies found in Pakistani society. In general, the expectancy— value theory has been found to provide an appropriate interpretative framework for these results. Towards the close of the thesis, some of the practical implications of the present study and suggestions for future research have been offered.
DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN INDIGENOUS INTELLIGENCE TEST
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, 2011) MAHMOODSADIQ
The aim of the study was to construct and standardize an Indigenous Intelligence Test (IIT) to measure general intelligence ‘8’ and a screening tool for youth intending to apply in Armed Forces, Public Service Commission and similar organizations where English carries a status of official language. The items of IIT were developed with the help ofmaterial obtained from own culture and were constructed in simple English language. The IIT comprises of six sub-scales: Vocabulary, Arithmetic, Analogy, Information, Comprehension, and Similarity. The test was planned to measure various aspects of intelligence verbal ability, to understand concepts, general reasoning factor, element of discovery, acquired knowledge, social intelligence, education of relations and correlates. The usefulness of the items was judged through item analysis by administering the test to a sample of200 subjects with minimum Intermediate qualification. Items were evaluated by considering two main aspects; discrimination power and difficulty level. Items with discriminatory power less than .30 and level o fdifficulty below .30 and above .70 were discarded. The final draft of the test comprised of 71 items; Vocabulary and Arithmetic sub-scales consists of 12 items each, Analogy 14, Information 11, Comprehension 12 and Similarity 10. In the main study the test was administered to 1669 students both male and Jemale, belonging to various Government Colleges & Universities offourprovinces ofthe country including AJK and FATA. Candidates both from urban and rural areas were included in the study. Two methods were used to establish reliability ofthe test i.e., KR 20 and Split-halfmethods. The estimatedindices ofreliability were, .79 and .69 respectively. To determine validity of indigenous intelligence test different validity criteria were used including urban/rural differences, province wise differences, correlation of the total test and sub-scales (construct validity) and marks in last qualified examination to determine concurrent validity Significant differences in the mean scores of the male and female candidates on vocabulary, arithmetic, analogy and information were found whereas non significant difference was observed on comprehension and Similarity sub scales. Significant mean differences on vocabulary, arithmetic, analogy and information and non significant difference on comprehension and similarity were also found. Inter-correlation among the sub scales and IIT were calculated to determine construct validity of the test. The concurrent validity was determined by correlating scores on II T with the college marks obtained by each student in the last annual examination. Both indices established the evidence of high validity of the test. Significant differences in urban/rural mean scores on vocabulary, analogy, information, comprehension sub scales and IIT were observed VvSignificant differences were also observed in Province wise mean scores on vocabulary, arithmetic, analogy, information and comprehension sub scales. Whereas, non significant mean scores were found on similarity sub scale. Income group wise comparison revealed that higher the income groups better the performance. Percentile norms were developed for IT and sub scales while administering the test on a sample of 1669 subjects representative of Pakistani youth. In addition, province wise norms were also developed to gauge true performance of candidates hailing from different provinces.
DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL RELIGIOSITY SCALE
(2012) FARAH NAZ OASMI
The main objective of the present study was to develop a Multidimensional Religiosity Scale (MDRS) and establish its psychometric properties in order to measure the religious orientations of Muslims. Initially a list of 280 items was generated from three different sources, namely, the Holy Quran, Muzamin-ul-Quran and operational definitions of a good Muslim provided by religious scholars. Qualitative item analysis was carried out by five judges, including two experts in the field of Islamic Studies and three clinical psychologists. During this process, the number of items was reduced to 198 that coveprlanil first draft of MDRS. All the items were converted into a 5-point rating scale. The first draft of MDRS was administered on 671 adults (289 men; 382 women). The data was subjected to principal factor analysis. Consequently, the number of items was reduced to 175 that comprised second draft of MDRS. To determine the number of factors, a varimax rotation of the principal factors was done. As a result, seven factors were identified and labeled on the basis of their content. These factors explain 30.008 percent of the total variance and were named as: Individualistic Devotion, Tolerance towards Life Issues, Conviction, Subjective Righteousness, Social Orientation, Optimal Religious Functioning, Attitudes and Beliefs. To determine psychometric properties of MDRS, the second draft test consisting of 175 items was administered on a new sample of 500 individuals (male=250; female=250) selected randomly from Muslim population. These respondents belonged to different professional groups ranging in age from 25 to 65 years. Their qualification ranged from SSC to M.A. /professional degree, item-total correlations were computed. To determine internal consistency of MDRS, item_ total correlations were computed. The results revealed that all items comprising the new scale bear significant positive correlation with total score on the test, ranging from .29 to .89. Higher score on MDRS indicates higher level of religiosity. Cronbach's Alpha Reliability estimates were computed for sub scales as well as total score on MDRS. The data demonstrated that all the sub scales as well as the full scale are reliable and valid, instruments that can be used for assessment of religious orientation of Pakistani Muslims. Finally, the relationship between demographic variables, religiosity and psychological well being was investigated. The research findings revealed that there was a positive relationship between religiosity and psychological well being revealing that respondents having higher religious orientation exhibited higher psychological well being. These results suggest that religion plays an important role in mental health of an individual. The newly developed religiosity scale (MDRS) seems to be a valid and reliable tool for the measurement of religiosity for Muslim population.
Effects of Television Programme on Children
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 1978) Alay Ahmad
The purpose of the present investigation to study the effects of television programmes of varying types ahd spot messages upon school children, Ninetyfour TV and fifty non-TV children of grades III-x, and ranging in ages between seven to fifteen years were studied through open-ended interview. Pifty fathers of TV. children were also interviewed, Content analysis of these interviews was then carried out. All the interviewees belonged to the educated upper-middle class, residing on the University of Peshawar campus, .A comparison was made between the children's behaviour before they possessed TV, and their behaviour after they had viewed it for at least a period of 12 months... The behaviour of TV children was also compared with that of the non-TV.ones belonging to the same population and during the same period, In the case of TV children, the following variables were studied: TV programme preference, and its causes; TV viewing hours; learning from TV programmes and advertisements;..meeting place of the family; frequency and nature of communication with the family members while watching TV. programmes; reactions to the visit of friends during TV viewing; preference between movies and TV programmes, Seth the TV and non-TV children were studied in respect of the followiic variables: Total amount of time spent on meeting friends outside TV hours? play; radio; hours of sleeping. and rising; home study; effects of TV upon reading habits of magazines, books, newspaper; and English vocabulary. Results show that social drama wes most favoured by the girls. Crime and violence programmes were most favoured by the boys. Their fathers, however, regarded crime and violence as unsuitable programmes for their children. Documentaries and interviews were the least favoured programmes for both, The TV children preferred programmes heaving partial-fantasy contents. Humour wes the major factors of programme preference, Children watched tV for an average of 18.09 hours weekly during winter and 18.01 hours weekly during summer, Another interesting observation was that even though the entire family wetched TV programmes together, there wes hardly any verbal interaction among its members, Results also indicate that interactions with visiting friends are inversely related to the decree of programme preference, Results show that TV children eferred TV programmes as compared to movies, Furthermore, results show that televiewing reduced hours of meeting with friends, play, radio and study. TV viewing also adversely affected the reading habits of magazines, books; and newspapers, As compared with non-TV children, the TV ones were found to be late bed-goers and late risers and the latter sleep for lesser time, A large majority of fathers of TV children reported that the letter had learnt some undesirable behaviour from TV programmes and snot messages, At the same time, however, they as well as their children thought that TV had a positive effect on general information and vocabulary. The latter was also confirmed through the WIS Vocebulery Scale
Myth and Reality in Sex-Role Discrimination
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 1998) Asad Bano; Supervised by Prof. Dr Mah Nazir Riaz
The present study examined the gender differences between personality characteristics of male and female executives through California Psychological Inventory (Gough, 1987) and an indigenous Work Management Scale. The sample consisted of 70 executives (35 male and 35 female) randomly selected from various districts of N.W.F.P. It was found that male executives are significantly better than female executives in their interpersonal relationships, intellectual stance and achievement ability, Whereas female executives have scored higher than male executives on the scales measuring intrapersonal controls, value styles, beliefs and conceptual interests. The differences between personality traits of executives who have joined the profession of their parents and those who have entered into the profession other than their parents was also studied. The findings revealed that the executives who have adopted the profession of their Parents scored higher on the scales measuring Dominance, Sociability, Responsibility, Socialization, Self Control, and Good Impression. Along with these scales the ferfiale executives also showed Significantly better performance than the other group of female executives on Social Presence, Self-Acceptance and Achievement via Conformance scales. On the other hand, the male executives who havejoined the profession other than that of their wards performed significantly better on the Achievement via Conformance, Psychological Mindedness and Social Presence scales of the instrument. Female executives of this group performed better than female executives of other group on Achievement via Indepeterce, Intellectual Efficiency, Psychological Mindedness, Flexibility and Femininity scales. Female executives scored higher than male executives on the Work Management Scale. Job performance of these executives were also evaluated by their subordinates through Purdue Rating Scale (Remmers and Hobson, 1951). The sample consisted of randomly selected 430 subordinates. The investigation revealed insignificant differences among both gender of the executives when they were evaluated by their same sex subordinates, except on Social responsibility scale where female executives are rated higher than male executives by their subordinates.It was also noticed that even the varied educational qualification of the executives rendered no difference in their ratings. By contrast, significant differences are revealed when the evaluations were made by raters of gender other than that of their bosses. Female executives are rated low by their male subordinateson all the three scales of Purdue Rating Scale, which are Social responsibility, Administrative achievement and Democratic orientation than their female colleagues. Whereas male executives are rated higher by their female subordinates on all the three scales of the rating scale thantheir male colleagues.It is concluded from the research Study that societal normsand traditions effect the personality traits of the executives and also create evaluative biases.
Psychological Effects on Sexually Abused Children in NWFP
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2004) Asghar Ali Shah; Supervised by Prof Dr Maher Bano
The purpose of the present research was to investigate the psychological effects of child sexual abuse (CSA) on adults. One hundreds male adults ranging in age eighteen to thirty years from the different cities of North Western Frontier Province, Pakistan acted as subjects. Half of them having the experience ofchild sexual abuse in their childhood and the remaining fifty subjects were non-victims of CSA. Social functioning, depression, suicide ideation, hopelessness, negative self-evaluation, hostility and suicide probability are the major symptoms andpsychological effects investigated in the study. According to the symptoms,clinical observations, and behaviors ofthe victims of CSA, a scale comprising 17 itemsJor assessment of social functioning of the subjects was device. The reliability of the scale was quite high. Salma Shah Depression Scale (SSDS 1992) was used for assessment of depression amoxg the subjects. Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) measured suicide ideation and suicide probability. The same scales, SPS containing the subscales mentioned above, assessed hostility, hopelessness, negative self-evaluation and suicide probability . Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) measured depression and suicide ideation among the subjects.The findings of the research indicate that there is a significant difference on depression, suicide ideation, hostility, hopelessness and suicide ideation among the victims of CSA and non-victims. Social functioning of the victims of CSA is poor as compared to non-abused adults. The findings indicate non-significant difference) on sub-scale of SPSfor assessment ofnegative-self-evaluation ofthe sexual abused and non-abusedgroups. Non-significant differences areformulatedin terms of education and age of the subjects indicated that the age and education ofthe subjects did not affect the results and the intensity of psychological effects. The results demonstrated that social functioning, depression, suicide ideation, hostility, hopelessness and suicide ideation are significantly higher among the victims of CSA adults as compared to non-victims of the present sample.
Specific Learning Difficulties: Diagnosis and Implications for Social Psychological Functioning
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2005) Erum Irshad; Supervised by Dr Nighat Gillani
The present research examined the prevalence ofspecific learning disabilities and its implication for social psychological functioning among girls. The research was carried out in two phases. The first phase comprised of development of a screening check list, development of the scale to measure learning disabilities and establishing its discriminant validity. The second phase comprised of assessing the 1.0 level oflearning disable and non disable girls and to investigate psychological comorbidity among the girls who have learning disabilities. Raven Colour Progressive Matrices and Human Figure Drawing test was used for the assessment of level of intelligence and to investigate psychological comorbidity. From an initial pool of item based on most reported symptoms of learning disabilities seventeen items were selected after meeting the criteria ofinclusion. Over all the results of validity test provided good evidence of discriminant validity and confirmed the diagnostic value of newly devised scale. The sample of phase one comprised off our hundred girls students who were initially assessed on screening check list to find out the presence of symptoms of specific learning disabilities. Those girls students who responded yes to twelve or more than twelve symptoms were selected for further assessment and rest of them were excluded as they were not showing symptoms of learning disabilities. Out off our hundred two hundred girls students who showed symptoms of specific learning disabilities were further assessed on learning disabilities scale. Seventy five girls students out of two hundred were diagnosed as suffering from specific learning disabilities. Similar assessment procedure was adopted with seventy five non disable girls students. It was hypothesized that poor selfimage, anxiety, depression and aggression will be more prevalent among girls suffering from specific learning disabilities than those without specific learning disabilities. Results supported our hypotheses. It was found that girls suffering from specific leaning disabilities showed greater number of emotional indicators on Human Figure Drawing Test measuringpoorselfimage, anxiety, aggression and depression as compared to non disable girls who showed lesser number of emotional indicators. Scores of learning disable and non disable girls on Coloured Progrsessive Matrices showed no significant differences between the two groups. The relationship between specific learning disabilities and psychological comorbidity was evident and supported some of the previous findings.
Suicidal Ideation and Problem Solving Skills of University Students of Ireland
(Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, 2005) Farah Deeba; Supervised by Prof. Dr Maher Bano
To investigate whethersuicidal ideation is an indicator ofsuicide risk, a study was undertaken to examine the ability of suicidal ideation to distinguish population segments on the basis of their attitudes to suicidal behaviour and their own problem solving ability. Three hundred and fifty students attending University College Cork, Ireland were randomly selected and administered the questionnaire used was designed specifically for the present study and comprised four self-report measures in English language appeared in the following order. Demographic information was modified from the socio demographic section of the European Parasuicide study Interview schedule (Kerkhofet al., 1994), Fourfactorially derived Clinical Scales from the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (Domino et al., 1996), Suicide History Questionnaire was modified from the demographic section of the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (Domino etal., 1982), The Self-rating Problem Solving Scale (McLeavey and Daly, 1988). The mean age of the sample was 19.1 years, with a model age of 18. Age ranged from 17years to 25 years. Respondents were allocated to one of three groups on the basis of their lifetime suicidal ideation history: Non-ideators: 239 respondents (69%) who had never considered suicide in their lifetime; Ideators: 109 respondents (31%) who had considered suicide at least once; Planners: 21 Ideators who had made a plan for self-harm. Non-ideators had the highest problem solving scores and were significantly better than planners (p < 0.001) and Ideators (p < 0.001).Ideators without a plan scored higher than planners (p<0.435). Male and female respondents did not differ significantly overall, but they did exhibit distinctly different pattems in problem solving across ideation levels. Non ideators were significantly less in agreement than the Ideators and Planners (p < 0.001) with the attitude that suicidal behaviour is normal. Non-ideators were also significantly less in agreement than Ideators (p < 0.001) and Planners (p < 0.015) with the behaviourthatpeople have the right to take their own lives. There were no significant genderdifferences on anyofthe attitude scores. Test-retest correlations were significant for all scales (p < 0.01). One quarter ofthe Planners reportedthat they were more likely than not to attempt suicide while only 2% of Non-ideators and Ideators respectively expressed this estimate. Step-wise selection ofpredictor variables indicated that gender. normality and problem- solving scores were effective as gender and all five scales combined correctly classifying one-third of the Ideators and approximately half of the Planners. The findings are evaluated in terms of predicting the suicide risk.

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