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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL across studies. Thus the nomenclature for suicidal ideation and behavior has been the subject of considerable international attention and debate (De Leo, 2006). The nomenclature of suicide behaviors without fatal outcome varies as well. Sometimes they are referred to as "suicidality" while others term these as "suicide -related behaviors" or "suicidal behavior" (Van Orden et al., 2010). According to Gvion and Apter (2012), suicide is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon stemming from the interaction of several factors. Suicide remains an important and major cause of death in various populations' samples varying in age, nationality, and clinical severity. It cuts through nosological boundaries and across psychiatric diagnoses; it also characterizes non-psychiatric populations. Moreover, they also stated that a stressful life event can produce mental pain, depression, and hopelessness. Persons with good communication skills may gain support from friends and family; others may use suicidal behavior as a means of communication. When social communication is blocked, however, the person may feel trapped. The pernicious combination of unbearable mental pain and inability to signal ones distress to others can lead to a serious attempt to kill oneself. Three factors, often in combination, can trigger a serious suicidal attempt among people. The first is an acute event such as a disciplinary crisis. An example would be an adolescent who has been caught stealing

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL and who is told by the police that the family will be informed. Other acute stressors include humiliating events or breaking up with a girl or boy friend. The second trigger is any factor that alters the adolescents state of mind. These include marked hopelessness, rage, or intoxication with drugs or alcohol. The third proximate factor is the opportunity for suicide. The method that young people use to kill themselves varies according to where they live, suggesting that it is in part determined by availability. The wider social context, such as societal taboos or role models, can also influence the liability to suicidal behavior (Harington, 2001). Mental pain is a concept that entails the feeling of thwarted belongingness and that ones existence burdens the family and friends. This feeling is central to the etiology of suicide (Joiner, 2005). However, the capability to engage in suicidal behavior is separate from the desire to engage in suicidal behavior. The capability to die by suicide is acquired through a process of habituation that allows the individual to overcome the pain and fear associated with suicidal behavior. Pre-existing factors sometimes accelerate the process (Joiner, 2005). Impulsivity is only distally related to suicide: impulsive individuals may be more likely to have experiences that are painful or provocative which, in turn, confer an increased risk of suicidal behavior via habituation (Joiner, 2005). However, there is a wide spectrum of suicidal behavior, ranging from low-level suicide ideation (occasionally thinking about suicide) through to a

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL deliberate action that actually results in death (Retterstol, 1993). Attempted suicide is the term most often used to describe self-harm where there is apparently an intention to kill oneself but death does not occur. Retterstol (1993) defined this type of suicidal behavior as any deliberate act of selfdamage, or potential self-damage, where the individual cannot be sure of survival. Becker and Grilo (2007) studied the effect of gender on the prediction of suicidality and violent behavior among both male and female subjects. Moreover, females attempt suicide three times more often than males, but males carry out suicide three times more often than females, mainly because they choose harder means (e.g. shooting or hanging themselves). Suicide rates seem to be influenced also by occupation: suicide risk is higher among students than among workers or trainees. The most frequent combination of two methods was drug and alcohol and the most frequent combination of three methods was drug, alcohol and cutting (Michel, Ballinari, Bille-brahe, Bjerke, Crepet, De Leo, & Wasserman, 2000). Evenden (1999) stated that suicide attempts are often impulsive and many studies have identified impulsivity as a common correlate and risk factor for suicidal behavior. Impulsivity, a prominent construct in most theories of personality, encompasses a broad range of behaviors that reflect impaired self-regulation, such as poor planning, premature responding before considering consequences, sensation-seeking, risk-taking, an inability

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL to inhibit responses, and preference for immediate over delayed rewards (Evenden, 1999). Oldham (2006) had highlighted the significant role of interpersonal risk factors in suicide. People who are able to share their difficulties with family, friends or others benefit in various ways. Frisina, Borod, and Lepore (2004) stated that communication enhances intimate relationship and helps to cope with stress and traumatic events. People who communicate their difficulties to their environment are less likely to kill themselves. On the other hand, when communication fails, the risk for suicide arises. Thus it appears that difficulties in communication are a meaningful factor influencing suicidal behavior in general and lethal suicide attempts in particular (Frisina et al., 2004).

Suicidal Ideation Each year, all over the world, across various settings, reports of suicidal ideation have increased thoroughly. This problem represents serious health problems, especially in the youth (ONeil, Puleo, Benjamin, Podell, & Kendall, 2012). It can be formally defined as thoughts about self -destruction, including the idea that life is not worth living, wishing to be dead, and specific plans to end one's own life. It is generally a sign of severe emotional distress and is among the most powerful predictors of subsequent suicide attempts

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL and completed suicide (Dugas, Low, Burrows, Contreras, Chaiton, & OLoughlin, 2012). Many suicidal researches have been aimed at identifying the factors that can determine those individuals at risk for suicide for early detection and prevention. In a study conducted by Min, Jon, Jung, Hong, Song, Kim, and Hong (2012) the prevalence of suicide increases as the individual develops cognitive abilities. A significant predictor of future attempt of suicide is a continuous suicidal ideation. Also, it had been reported that a factor that can predict suicidal ideation can be traced back to familial roots. A precursor of early onset suicidal behavior is impulsive aggression, which has been implicated in the phenomenology and familial transmission of suicidal behavior (Min et al., 2012). In a study conducted by Dugas et al. (2012), they have identified potential predictor variables of suicidal ideation. These variables include depression symptoms, worry or stress, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, participation in sports teams at school, and participation in sports teams outside school. Inasmuch as early detection can help prevention and thereby decrease cases of suicidal ideation, many probable solutions have been suggested by countless authors based on studies they have conducted. Each one has to individually discover the meaning of each particular situation. Each meaning is unique to each person. The basic striving of man is to find the meaning in life (Dogra et al., 2011). Considering that the topic of

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL discussion is how this concept can be applied to college students, the same study conducted had shown that adopting this concept and living it out had shown significant results in helping reduce suicidal ideation among this population.

Suicidal Ideation Among College Students Within the higher educational context, adjusting to a college environment and undergoing a significant life course transition may be challenging for some students. College students encounter a variety of biopsychosocial, environmental, and sociocultural factors which could increase risk of developing suicidal behaviors (SPRC, 2001). If the transition to college is not successfully navigated, it may have far-reaching psychological consequences down the line such as depression, academic failure, and so on. College students are at elevated risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, perhaps because of the numerous developmental challenges (internal) and psychosocial changes (external) they experience. These challenges include exploring or developing their identity (eg, making career choices), navigating the transition from a state of full dependence to a state of semi-dependence on their parents, creating social relationships in a dif-ferent environment, managing the financial burden of increasingly high college tuition, and leaving their pri-mary support system (Nyer et al., 2013). As a result, most of them may feel incompetent and could face difficulty in

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL coping with life style in universities, which may in turn cause psychological distress including high test anxiety, lower academic self-efficacy, poor time management, and use of study resources (Jemal, 2012); and in the worst case scenario, students may commit suicide, 'the second leading cause of death in western colleges and universities (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2012). Lifetime prevalence of suicide among adolescent girls ranges from 5.7% (The Netherlands) to 17% (Australia) compared with 2.4% (The Netherlands) to 6.5% (Belgium) among boys (Madge et al., as cited in Tarchi & Colucci, 2013). The school based CASE study (Child and Adolescent Self-harm in Europe), on which this study is based, reported that 9.1% of Irish adolescents (13.9% of girls and 4.3% of boys) surveyed had harmed themselves at some point, of whom just under half reported repeated episodes (Morey, Corcoran, Arensman, & Perry, 2008). Rates have shown that thirteen per cent of deaths among 15-24 year olds in 2008, suicide remains the third leading cause of mortality among youth, resulting in the loss of nearly 4,300 lives annually (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System, 2011). Even more disturbing is that large proportions (14.5%) of students interviewed in national surveys report having seriously considered attempting suicide during the past 12 months (Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, 2010). It also indicated that 6.3% of students had attempted suicide once or more in the previous year and 13.8% had

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL considered suicide over the same period (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). A noteworthy issue that has been addressed in studies of life events and adolescents who attempted suicide involves types of events. A study suggested that family problems appear to be the most prominent reported precipitants of suicide attempts, followed by other negative events such as romantic boy/girlfriend conflicts and school problems (Pompili Innamorati, Szanto, Di Vittorio, Conwell, Lester, & Amore, 2011). This was in line with the study of Kolves, Varnik, Schneider, Fritze and Allik (2006), about the comparison between Germany and Lettonia, as they reported that recent unfavorable life events are normally associated with increased risk of suicide: younger age groups experience more often interpersonal losses, devaluating feelings, internal anxiety, conflicts and financial troubles. However, according to Adams and Adams (1996) such adolescents were more likely to consider suicide in response to prospects of losing a close friend, as compared to prospects of parental breakup or academic failure. Sexual, physical abuse and psychological abuse are another prevalent negative life event which may lead to a number of serious psychological problems, including suicide attempt (Kendall-Tackett et al.; Yang & Clam, as cited in Thompson, Proctor, English, Dubowitz, Narasimhan, & Everson, 2012). Several empirical studies have

demonstrated associations between lethal suicidal behavior and various

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL facets of communication difficulties, including loneliness, social withdrawal and isolation, lack of self-disclosure, living alone and having few social supports (Dejong, Overholser, & Stockmeier, 2010). Along the same lines, Witte Merill, Bernert, and Stellrecht (2008) proposed that certain behaviors may promote the individuals capability of committing lethal suicide, such as prostitution, drug use, self-mutilation, and violence. Furthermore, study of Irish university students reported that those with suicidal thoughts had significantly poorer problem-solving scores than those. Reporting findings of the multi-centre CASE study, Portzky, De Wilde, and Van Heeringen (2007) found that emotion-oriented coping was associated with deliberate self-harm in a sample of Dutch and Belgian adolescents. The English CASE study investigators reported that adolescents with a history of suicide attempts reported more coping methods considered to be emotionfocused, while those without any attempted suicide were more likely to report problem-focused approaches (Evans, Hawton, & Rodham, 2005). However, incidence of suicide is underreported in the world due to a number of reasons. In some instances, and for different reasons, for example religious and/or social reasons, suicide as the cause for death might be hidden; in some areas it is completely unreported (Bertolete & Fleischmann, 2002).

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL Student Suicide in the Philippines

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In the Philippines, the suicide rate has been going up for the past 21 years among the young and adults, most of them killing themselves by strangulation, in the morning during summer and during the Lenten Season. The suicide rate from 1984 to 2005 went up from 0.46 to seven out of every 200,000 men; up from 0.24 to two for every 200,000 women, the National Statistics Office told the Inquirer. According to Dr. Dinah Nadera (as cited in Dacanay, 2012) there is an increasing trend of suicide among the youth, particularly in the age group 5 to 14 and 15 to 24. Suicides occurred between 8:01am and noon on weekdays, when other people were not around in their homes, adding that the least suicide cases occurred between 12:01am and 4am, based on studies made on 300 cases from hospitals and the police in 2008 and 2009. Cases showed that many of them decided to kill themselves by hanging, strangulation, suffocation, poisoning (mainly ingestion of silver cleaner), and exposure to chemicals and noxious substances. However, suicide rates in the Philippines still remain insignificant compared with records in other countries. For the past months, college students committing suicide have been on the headlines. This includes Kristel Tejada, a behavioral science student who drank silver cleaner inside their home, after school administrators told her to take a leave of absence from her studies for failing to pay her tuition amounting to P10,000. Another is a mechanical engineering student who

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL failed to graduate this school year and so as a physical therapy freshman who found out that he got failing grades in four subjects, and will be transferred to another school in this coming year. They used a caliber .38 revolver and a shotgun, respectively, in killing themselves. Then another student is now on critical condition after she attempted to commit suicide after getting depressed for failing to make it to the top honor list in her school (Ozaeta, 2013).

Coping Responses In dealing with the changes that happen in and around them, college students may opt to make use of a coping strategy that will temporarily alleviate their source of stress, or one that will help them cope successfully in the long run. Coping consists of the thoughts and behaviors people use to manage the demands of stressful experiences. Approaches to coping are not intrinsically positive or negative; rather they are adaptive depending on the situation and the stressful life event in which they are used ( Daucet & Letourneau, 2009). It may be further maintained by the duration, or can be referred to as the dependence on the length of time he/she was willing to cope, apart from the cognitive style dissimilarity, with which the individual acts outside of the preferred behavior (Samms & Friedel, 2013). In addition, it was further reported that if the student lacks the motivation, he or she may return to his or her preferred behavior, which may not be effective in dealing

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL with the present situation. Furthermore, prior to the study of Haan and (as cited in Samms & Friedel, 2013) coping was viewed as a defense mechanism. However, due to their contribution, the view of coping shifted from that of a defense mechanism, to a trait or a style. Also, although coping was initially discussed in many different fields like economics, education; politics, and business, it is more dominant in psychology and mental health care, primarily because it revolved around how individuals dealt with stress, pressure, and anxiety. In addition with this, Folkman and Lazarus (as cited in Samms and Friedel, 2013) stated that behaviors and thoughts are where coping stems from. These behavioral aspects and thoughts processes are considered to be dynamic activities. This implied that it was almost necessary for the individual to force himself or herself to respond to a burden which surpassed his or her ability to handle this successfully. This explains why coping is defined as constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person. Generally, coping strategies can be divided into two major categories namely, proactive and preventive coping. The concept and theory of proactive coping and preventive coping comes from the theoretical tradition of Lazarus (Lazarus, 1993). In this view, coping is defined as the cognitive, behavioral efforts to manage particular external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding resources of the person. Although

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL anticipation of harm or loss is essential to this widely accepted definition, traditional coping models emphasize the reactive nature of coping and focus attention on how people cope with past or ongoing stressors (Lazarus, 1993). Therefore, it is also called reactive coping by Schwarzer and Taubert (2002). In contrast, proactive and preventive coping deal with anticipated stressful events that have not occurred. According to Greenglass (2002) proactive coping theory is an emphasis on the time perspective distinguishes reactive, preventive, and proactive coping. Proactive coping is defined as efforts to strive actively to seek new challenges, create new opportunities, and facilitate promotion toward challenging goals so that they will be less negative, whereas preventive coping refers to the process by which a person builds up resources and resistance just in case possible stressors occur in the distant future. Coping strategies, on the other hand can then also be categorized into a more specific groups such as emotion-focused and problem-focused (Daucet & Letourneau, 2009). Emotion-focused approaches regulate emotional distress. Problem-focused approaches direct attention towards the problem and look for ways to resolve it. Avero, Corace, Endler and Calvo (2002) additionally suggest avoidance-focused coping as a category, which entails person-oriented or task-oriented strategies to distract away from the stressor at hand. Avoidant coping has also been examined as a coping category and refers to coping responses that are oriented away from the

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL source of stress (e.g., withdrawal or denial; (Compas, Grant, & Orosan, 1993). In addition, Rosmarin, Bigda-Peyton, Ongur, and Bjorgvinsson (2013) have described religious faith and spiritual beliefs as a means of coping also. In the context of this study, college students are constantly adjusting to be able to keep up with the daily demands of college life. In doing so, they make use of different coping styles that can help them handle their constantly changing situations. Emotion-focused coping Emotion-focused coping is defined as aiming to manage the emotional distress that is associated with the situation (Lazarus & Folkman as cited in Baker & Berenbaum, 2007). The said strategy of coping has a broad range and may include substance abuse, use of emotional support, positive reframing, humor, acceptance, religion, and self-blame. Carver, Scheier, and Weintraub (as cited in Baker & Berenbaum, 2007). They also reported that the effectiveness of this coping strategy is dependent on the kind of approach used, but overall, this is considered to be maladaptive for a variety of reasons. In addition, in using this coping strategy, it is possible that it confounds coping efforts with distress, thereby making it ineffective and makes the coping strategy maladaptive. However, it was reported that using this coping strategy would be most effective for individuals who are less attentive to their emotions, ambivalent about their emotions, who are not clear about their emotions, and have a difficulty expressing their emotions.

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL Substance use

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The most common forms of substance use are alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. Engaging in this type of behavior diverts the attention of the individual from the source of stress and may help in alleviating it but only temporarily. More often than not, turning to this kind of emotion-focused coping only results in more problems in the future (Tavolacci et al., 2013). Use of emotional support The use of emotional support, in the form of social support, helps facilitate coping by helping solve the problem, or through disclosure of emotions (Snyder as cited in Nordin, Andersson & Nordin 2010). In addition, it was reported that health outcomes are dependent on perceived, rather than provided support (Barrera Cohen et al., 2000). This entails that the individuals perception of ones support being present aids in coping, not necessarily that it is actually the case. Also, support sources that were most frequently used were in the forms of friends and spouses, followed by professionals, children, other kin and spiritual advisors and, least frequently, support groups and neighbours (Gibson et al. as cited in Nordin, Andersson, & Nordin, 2010) . Positive reframing Given the many approaches of emotion-focused strategy in coping, positive reframing had been reported as the most effective in dealing with individuals who are considered to be perfectionists (Stoeber, 2011).

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL Perfectionism refers to a personality disposition characterized

by

exceedingly high standards for performance accompanied by tendencies for overly critical self-evaluations of ones behavior. It was also said that perfectionists are often dissatisfied with their achievements, selves, and lives, simply because they never see themselves fully achieving their standards. In university students, this is not an uncommon occurrence (Flett & Hewitt; Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate as cited in Stoeber, 2011). To be able to effectively cope with this kind of behavior, individuals often resort to the emotion-focused strategy of positive reframing. In the Brief Cope test used in the same study by Stoeber (2011), positive reframing was found to be the third most effective coping strategy, overall. The said study had reported that positive reframing, along with two other coping strategies had positive effects on satisfaction, most especially in dealing with failures and disappointments (Stoeber, 2011). Humor In numerous research studies, the importance of humor has never been undervalued, especially with regards to coping and dealing with lifes stresses and challenges. In the same study conducted by Stoeber (2011), humor, along with positive reframing and another coping strategy, was considered to be one of the three positive ways of coping in that it helped the individual feel satisfied at the end of the day. Although there are two opposing views on the use of humor as a coping strategy, more researches

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL focusing on humor as an effective and positive form of coping have been reported. Acceptance In a study conducted by Cook and Hayes (2010) acceptance-based coping involves the deliberate taking in or actively contacting psychological experiences without needless defense. This kind of coping strategy, is indicative of more positive outcomes, than other coping strategies, because there is no manipulation of stimuli, experiences, or events to be temporarily forgotten, only to resurface again at a later time. In addition, the study conducted by Stoeber (2011) affirmed that along with positive reframing and humor, acceptance as an emotion-focused approach is a positive approach to help individuals feel more adjusted and satisfied at the end of the day. Religion Religion as an emotion-focused approach is one that has been proven by several studies as an approach that can help reduce suicidal ideation. Individuals who use religion as a coping approach often have prohibitions that concern suicide and non-suicidal self-harm (Kamal & Loewenthal; Marion & Range; Morrison & Downey as cited in Borrill & Roger, 2011). In addition, using this coping approach has been reported to result in lower anxiety (Koenig; Mueller, Plevak, & Rummans, 2001 as cited in Borrill and Roger 2011) and lower depression (Daaleman & Kaufman; Randolph-Seng, Nielsen, Bottoms, & Filipas, as cited in Borrill & Roger 2011).

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL Self-blame

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In the study conducted by Stoeber (2011), self-blame was considered to rank the lowest among all the other coping strategies in terms of satisfaction it provided to the participants. In the same study, the amount of satisfaction provided is inversely proportional to the frequency of use. In this light, for individuals who are perfectionists, the coping strategy of self-blame is most frequently used, although it is clearly maladaptive, as summarized by Stoeber and Otto (2006). Problem-focused coping As opposed to emotion-focused coping, problem-focused coping focuses on efforts to modify the problem at hand and typically includes elements such as generating options to solve the problem, evaluating the pros and cons of different options, and implementing steps to solve the problem (Lazarus & Folkman as cited in Baker & Berenbaum, 2007). The range of problem-focused coping includes active coping, use of instrumental support, and planning. Given these approaches, Baker and Berenbaum (2007) have reported that this strategy is most effective with individuals who are attentive to their emotions, clear about them, and not having ambivalent feelings.

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL Active coping

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It is a coping response wherein the individual manages to solve their problem by confronting it through direct action or increase of exertion on effort (Crockett et al. 2007) In a study conducted by Shimazu and Kosugi (2003), they had hypothesized that active coping has a negative relation to psychological distress and will be effective regardless of the type of chronic stressor present. However, its effectiveness will be reduced when dealing with situations that require more effort to cope with. That being said, they had concluded their hypotheses with the idea that active coping must be assisted by non-active coping methods to decrease psychological distress in situations requiring more effort in coping. In addition, the study conducted by Stoeber (2011) had predicted less frequent use of active coping in providing satisfaction to individuals as a means of coping. Use of instrumental support Given that problem-focused coping aims to address and solve the problems an individual has, the use of instrumental support as a coping strategy is one that is effective and easily recognized. The topic of discussion in this study is college students. Aside from the pressures and stresses they experience academically, there are also instances that arise from relational devaluation. In a study conducted by Cater, May, and Byrd (2012), they had studied the kind of coping style used in terms of the kind of

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL hurt the individual experienced. In this study, they had identified two kinds of hurt: introjective hurt and retaliatory hurt. It was reported that individuals who had needed instrumental support from others were those who had experienced introjective hurt. According to Cater et al. (2012) introjective hurt reflects the tendency to internalize the hurt by engaging in self-blame; whereas retaliatory hurt is when a person engages in aggressive retaliation towards the perpetrator of the hurt. Thus, individuals who experience introjective hurt are likely to intensify their hurt by internalizing it, which may lead to maladaptive responses such as depression. Planning In the study conducted by Cater et al. (2012) the second type of hurt: retaliatory hurt is more likely correlated to an individual making use of planning as the problem-focused approach. This is believed to be so because since the coping approach is active and problem-focused, the individual may think of using planning to get back at the perpetrator of the hurt, along with humor to offset the implication of the hurt experienced. Avoidant Coping It is a coping response wherein the individual refuses to confront the problem by ignoring or repressing the problem. Individuals tend to avoid facing their problems and would rather not deal with it (Crocket et al., 2007) It is often characterized by a disengagement from problems, is associated with distress (Dunkley & Blankstein, 2000). After controlling for

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL perceived social support, daily hassles, and other variables, Dunkley and Blankstein (2000) found that avoidant coping mediated the relationship between evaluative concerns perfectionism and distress. In the study conducted by Ssenyonga, Owens and Olema (2013), their findings revealed that adolescent refugees had a high prevalence of PTSD, negative posttraumatic cognitions, use of avoidance coping strategies, and a considerable high risk of suicide. The findings suggest that for the adolescent refugees, negative appraisal and avoidance coping strategies used subsequent to trauma exposure have implication for current psychological well-being. Distraction According to Allen and Leary (2010) distraction involves using behaviors such as watching television, exercising, reading, or engaging in other pleasurable activities to distract oneself from the stressful event. Distraction is a passive coping strategy in that the person copes without directly confronting the situation or trying to solve the problem. Skinner and Wellborn (1994) states that distraction is sometimes conceptualized as an accommodative or secondary control coping tactic, which involve changing ones goals in order to accept failure, unpleasant circumstances, or other problems. According to Allen and Leary (2010) whether distraction is adaptive and effective depends on the situation. To the extent that the situation cannot be changed, distraction may be helpful.

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL Denial

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Denial is a strategy that means refusing to face reality and attempting to rely on a view that is no longer relevant, whereas acceptance indicates restructuring the experiences in order to cope with the reality of the situation (Carver & Scheier, 2005) Behavioral Disengagement It is a coping response wherein the individual does not exert any more effort in dealing with the problem, to the point of giving up their goals. According to Carver and Connor-Smith (2010) when it comes to coping, it was found that substance use, behavioral disengagement and self-blame were related to poorer psychological well-being, whereas acceptance was associated with better psychological well-being.

Uses of Coping Students face social, emotional, physical and family problems which might affect their learning ability and academic performance. As a result, it is important that individuals develop different strategies in order to manage stressful situations (Chew-Graham, Rogers, and Yassin, 2003). In certain situations, certain coping strategies serve as protective components by regulating the negative effects brought on by stressful events, and creating alternatives to solve the problem, while others may worsen the effects of stress and become risk factors themselves (Seiffge-

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL Krenke, 2000). Coping responses are highly predictive of psychological wellness and act as buffers for disorders such as anxiety and depression (Bisschop, Kriegsman, Beekman, & Deeg, 2004). They also predict low levels of worker burnout (McCarthy, Lambert, ODonnell, & Melendres, 2009). For example, the perception of having strong social support is related to a greater likelihood of using ones support network in coping with workplace stress. Several studies show relationships between high social support resourcefulness and task-focused or positive coping styles (Ingledew, Hardy, & Cooper, 1997; Lewin & Sager, 2008; Snow, Swan, Raghavan, Connell, & Klein, 2003). A study by Lewis and Frydenberg (2002), revealed that adolescents using problem-solving strategies, involving seeking help and advice, have been reported to be associated with positive adjustment among adolescents and tend to cope better (Schonert- Reichl, Offer, & Howard, 1995; SeiffgeKrenke, 2000). In contrast, reliance on avoidant or disengaging coping styles such as resignation or escape is generally associated with poor adjustment and behavioral-emotional problems (Seiffge-Krenke, 2000; Lewis and Frydenberg, 2002 ) It has been suggested that adolescents' wellbeing can be improved if they were helped to minimize their use of negative avoidant coping strategies and to increase their use of active coping (Frydenberg & Lewis, 2009). These coping responses have been associated with resilience, which can be defined as positive outcomes in the presence of adversity

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL (Campbell-Sills, Cohan, & Stein, 2006) and which involves a focus on individuals strengths as well as deficits (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000) this will help young people to reduce their risk of developing depressive symptoms, which are strongly associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Sawyer, Pfeiffer, & Spence, 2009). The function of coping may also lie in solving the actual problem, such as increasing effort, enlisting help, or investing other resources Schwarzer as cited in Schwarzer & Renner, 2000). Another function may lie in feeling good in spite of the risk, for example by redefining the situation as less threatening, by distraction, or by gaining reassurance from others as the management of known risks, which includes investing ones resources to prevent or combat the stressor or to maximize an anticipated benefit (Schwarzer & Renner, 2000). Coping can also be used by minimizing the severity of the impact. Thus, the consequences of stressful events, should they occur, would be less severe. Coping may also be used to prepare for uncertain events in the long run. The aim is to build up general resistance resources that result in less strain in the future. In preventive coping, individuals consider a critical event that may or may not occur in the distant future (Schwarzer, as cited in Schwarzer & Renner, 2000 ).

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL Coping Response and Suicidal Ideation

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When individuals experience pressure that exceeds their ability to cope, this results in stress (Tavolacci, Ladner, Grigioni, Richard, Villet, & Dechelotte, 2013). In dealing with stress, individuals seek their own way of coping with the said stress. For university students, this kind of stress may be related to studying, examinations, academic adjustments, and pressure received from peers, teachers, or parents. This may result in negative outcomes in the academic, emotional, and health aspects of their lives (Tavolacci et al., 2013). Adjusting to university life is a major transition for young adults, as they have to overcome the unfamiliarity of the university environment. Therefore, entering college is by nature a stressful experience. Considering the pivotal role of stress, a great amount of research has been conducted to explore the factors contributing to the coping strategies and suicide ideation of college students. Episodes of suicidal thoughts and behaviors vary across many factors, including duration, intensity, frequency, associated mood states, consideration of methods, communication of distress, and help-seeking behaviors (Drum, Brownson, Burton Denmark, & Smith, 2009). Coping, as another important predictor, has also been extensively researched in understanding suicide behaviors. According to the study done by Zhang, Wang, Xia, Liu, and Jung (2012), results showed that the mediating role of active coping was significant at trend, and passive coping was a significant mediator between

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL life stress and suicide ideation. Higher life stress increased use of passive coping, in turn, passive coping increased suicide ideation. Emotion-focused coping, avoidant coping, problem-focused coping, and religious coping are important predictors of suicidal ideations among a variety of populations. Several researchers (Daucet & Letourneau , 2009) have reported the importance of avoidance-focused and emotion-focused coping as predictors of suicidal ideations. Avoidance coping as a risk factor for suicidal ideations was not supported in a sample of adult medical inpatients, while higher levels of emotion-focused coping were predictive of suicidal ideations (Avero et al., 2002). Female undergraduates who used emotion-focused coping were also more likely to experience suicidal ideations (Heckman, Kalichman, Kochman, and Bergholte, 2000). In his study Horwitz et al., (2011) found out that using substances and coping by blaming ones self were associated with greate r serious suicidal ideation. Other studies also support this relationship between the use of substance and suicidality. According to Locke and Newcomb (as cited in Galaif, Sussman, Newcomb, Locke, 2007) alcohol and other drug use has been associated with suicidality among adolescents Locke and Newcomb found that drug use had both a direct and indirect influence on suicidality. Meanwhile, according to Sunnqvist, Bendz and Westrin (2013) another adaptive coping strategy, i.e. seeking social supportinstrumental,

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL was scored lower by the recent suicide attempters than suicide attempters at follow up, or healthy controls. This means that the recent suicide attempters were less prone to seek advice and information than the others. This is an important finding, since social support can exert a protective influence against stressors and buffer against the outcome of a stressful event. There is evidence from comparative studies that socials support systems are undermined among suicide attempters (Kumar, & George, 2013). Avoidance-focused and emotion-focused coping are often reported to be less effective strategies, primarily because these approaches do not address the direct management of the problem at hand. (Daucet & Letourneau, 2009). This exacerbates the stressful experience, and in turn can lead to suicidal behaviors as a means to escape. Miotto and Preti (2008) found the use of denial to be protective of suicidal ideation in a school-aged population. It may be that denial serves as a protective coping style in circumstances beyond adolescents control, such as the death or illness of a family member, parental conflict, or poverty. Given that an adolescent has little or no control over these situations, problem focused coping may not realistically alleviate stress, and denial may become a viable alternative. Problem solving as a coping strategy, is thought to reduce the risk of suicidal ideations. Problem-focused coping is recognized to be an effective

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL approach, as the individual takes active steps towards resolving the problem that is causing their distress (Avero et al., 2002). Religious coping appears to decrease the risk of suicidal ideations. Among depressed adults with a history of child abuse, an inverse relationship was demonstrated between the severity of suicidal ideations and religious beliefs Rosmarin et al. (2013). In addition, Khurana and Romer (2012) identified another category of coping which is the support seeking strategy. According to their results, the use of support seeking predicted reduction in suicidal ideation. However, according to Lazarus (1993) the theory of coping as a process emphasizes only problem-focused and emotion-focused as the two major functions of coping. The function of problem-focused coping is to change the troubled person-environment relationship by acting on the environment or oneself while, on the other hand, emotion-focused copings function is to change either the way stressful relationship with the environment is attended or the relational meaning of what is happening which mitigates the stress even though the actual conditions of the relationship have not changed ( Lazarus, 1996). Poor coping skills and deficits in problem-solving behaviors have been known to increase the risk for suicidal behaviors, thus it can be assumed that adequate or good coping skills and problem-solving behaviors, as well as a range of other individual and adaptive skills, including positive beliefs and

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL high self-esteem may act as a buffer against suicidal behavior (Beautrais, Joyce, and Mulder, 1997). The use of inappropriate coping skills by suicidal adolescents might play a mediating role between the effects induced by life events and the adolescents cognitive appraisals (Yang & Clum, 1996). Adolescents tend to move toward suicidal behavior when they have inadequate abilities to cope with stressors, thus using the chosen form of suicidal behavior as a means to reach out to others (Horwits, Hill, and King, 2011). Studies have also found that adolescents with poor problem-solving skills, specifically those who fail to perceive alternatives or solving difficulties are more vulnerable to suicide and that a significant relationship between coping and suicidality exists among adolescents (Kidd and Carroll, 2007). According to Carver and Connor-Smith (2010) when it comes to coping, it was found that substance use, behavioral disengagement and self-blame were related to poorer psychological well-being, whereas acceptance was associated with better psychological well-being.

Using emotion-focused coping alternatives, could mediate the effects of stressful life events, and ultimately lead to hopelessness, and depressive symptoms both of which are strong predictors of suicidality. In other words, a reaction of walking away from a fight may be used both to calm down (emotion-focused) and to change the setting of a conflict (problem-focused) (Brunwasser, 2012).

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL The coping strategies that predicted poorer psychological well-being, namely substance use, behavioral disengagement and self-blame, can be classified as disengagement coping, whereas the coping strategy

acceptance, which predicted both psychological and physical well-being, can be classified as engagement coping (Carver & Connor-Smith, 2010). Cheng, Chen, Chen, and Jenkins (2000) found that adolescents with suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms often make use of isolative coping strategies, including thinking that people should be able to handle their own problems. Also in the same study it was discovered that suicidal adolescents with high levels of suicidal ideation would be less inclined to using help-seeking as a coping strategy. Esposito, Johnson, Wolfsdorf, and Spiritu (2003) also found social withdrawal to be the only difference in coping strategies used between suicidal and non-suicidal adolescents, with both groups reporting similar stressors but in varying degrees. The present study seeks to enhance our understanding of the relation of specific coping behaviors to suicidal ideation of adolescents specifically college students. It improves upon previous research by addressing also the specific coping behaviors within these categories that may account for associations with suicidal ideation.

Synthesis of Reviewed Materials

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL After reviewing the literature and studies, the researchers were able to understand better the factors that are related to suicidal ideation and coping responses of college students. Namely, the literature review allowed the researchers to trace the extent to which coping strategies as emotionfocused, avoidant-focused and problem-focused affected the suicidal ideation of these college students. To understand the association of these coping strategies to suicidal ideation, a thorough literature review was done. It helped the researchers gain a deeper understanding of coping strategies and its implications to college students suicidal ideation and behavior. Various literatures have shown multiple results. Some studies have shown a positive relationship between the specific dimensions of these coping strategies and suicidal ideation, whereas others have shown none. A thorough understanding and exploration of literature on this matter helped the researchers oversee the changes to be made and limitations regarding this matter. Over the past years, coping strategies used by students have been of considerable interest to researchers. This is primarily due to the fact that coping strategies and suicidal ideation has a significant relationship. Given the steadily increasing cases of suicidal ideation among the youth today, it is vital to look closely into this and study its relationship with coping strategies to be able to detect it early and aid its prevention. A review on literatures on this topic helped the researchers identify the coping strategies effects on

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UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS GRADUATE SCHOOL suicidal ideation and this is of great relevance not only in the field of Behavioral Sciences but also in the field of Health Sciences as well, given the negative implications of suicidal ideation to an individuals life, health, mentality, and environment. The review materials provided comprehensive information about the relationship of coping strategies to the suicidal ideation of second and third year college students. This would prove to be useful in aiding the researchers yield the best results, given the extensive knowledge gained through the reviewed literatures and in helping them to be better prepared in conducting their study, given their knowledge in its strengths and limitations.