Cognitive flexibility and suicidal ideation among Malaysian students Zoe Chng Woon Chin, Liew Kee Yee and Tiong Wei Jie. This research project is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and appreciation to those who have supported and guided us through the completion of the project.
Evelyn Toh Kheng Lin, for the many hours they put in and their patience in guiding us through the whole process of the project. This appended research paper, titled “The Relationship Between Perfectionism, Cognitive Flexibility, and Suicidal Thoughts Among Malaysian College Students”, prepared and submitted by “Zoe Chng Woon Chin, Liew Kee Yee, and Tiong Wei Jie”, partially fulfills the requirements for the Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) Psychology is hereby accepted. Yet the role of both perfectionism and cognitive flexibility in suicidal ideation remains controversial and unclear to date.
This study was therefore designed to investigate the predictive relationship between perfectionism, cognitive flexibility and suicidal ideation among Malaysian undergraduate students. The current findings have provided new insight into the existing literature regarding suicidal ideation in the Malaysian context, and the empirical evidence that can serve as a reference for practitioners to outline effective evidence-based interventions regarding suicide-related issues.
Introduction
Apart from that, Keilp et al. 2001) also suggested that cognitive flexibility is one of the characteristics that influence the high or low mortality of suicide attempters. From that, we can see that perfectionism and cognitive flexibility are factors related to suicidal thoughts. Their results reported a significant relationship between perfectionism and suicidal ideation (Hamilton & Schweitzer, 2000; Hewitt et al., 1992;
Shahnaz et al., 2018), and also between cognitive flexibility and suicidal ideation (Hausman et al., 2020; Miranda et al., 2013). On the other hand, despite the increasing number of studies on cognitive flexibility and suicidal ideation or attempt, Lai et al. 2018) concluded that gaps exist in the understanding of cognitive flexibility at different degrees of suicidal ideation. Therefore, in this study we aim to study the relationship between perfectionism, cognitive flexibility and suicidal ideation among Malaysian students.
Generally, suicidal ideation is defined as an individual's desire or consideration to take his own life (Harmer et al., 2021). The suicidal ideation in the study is represented by the total score for the Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI), the self-report version developed by Beck et al.
Literature Review
Cognitive flexibility refers to the ability to modify ways of thinking to cope with uncontrollable stressful events (Troy et al., 2013). Since cognitive flexibility is related to problem solving (Beversdorf et al., 1999; Kalia et al., 2019) and. In this context, a study by Stange et al. 2017) reported that individuals with higher levels of cognitive flexibility are associated with lower severity in depression.
It is said that individuals who are unable to generate coping strategies due to minimal information during stressful situations are considered cognitively inflexible and this may lead to suicidal ideation (Patsiokas et al., 1979; In addition, a study by Hausman et al. 2020) also showed that cognitive flexibility is negatively related to suicidal ideation and this finding was. Both studies by Hausman et al. 2020), and Schotte and Clum (1982) mentioned that individuals who have difficulty maintaining their cognitive flexibility would have a higher risk of suicidal ideation.
Furthermore, cognitive flexibility is essential for slowing down and identifying alternatives to current activities that provide more satisfying outcomes (Hausman et al., 2020). Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) is a theory of human motivation and personality development (Fraguela-Vale et al., 2020).
Methodology
The correlation coefficient values of the relationship between perfectionism and suicidal ideation, and between cognitive flexibility and suicidal ideation were entered into this formula. However, 19 responses were excluded due to missing data, impossible fast response times, and incompleteness of the final part of the questionnaire. The form included sufficient details such as the purpose of the research, the survey process, voluntary participation, potential risks or.
A pilot study is an initial and fundamental step in the research process (Simkus, 2022; In, 2017) conducted to assess the feasibility of the main study (Thabane et al., 2010). After conducting the pilot study, which gave good reliability results for the studied variables, data collection procedures for the present study began. However, responses with incredibly fast response times, missing data, and an incomplete back part of the questionnaire were removed from the data analysis process.
The initial version of the scale included 30 items, but Beck and his colleagues eliminated some overlapping items. They improved the accuracy and wording of the remaining items and finally came up with the 19-item scale for suicidal ideation (Beck et al., 1979).
Results
Q Plot. The results of the Q plot for the variables showed no violation of the normality assumption as most of the observed data points fell near the diagonal line on the
The tolerance values for both perfectionism and cognitive flexibility were 0.996, indicating no violation as the values were > 0.10 (Hair et al., 2010). MLR was conducted to evaluate whether perfectionism significantly predicted suicidal ideation among Malaysian undergraduate students. MLR was conducted to examine whether cognitive flexibility significantly predicted suicidal ideation among Malaysian undergraduate students.
The present findings support the second hypothesis, H2, where cognitive flexibility was reported to negatively predict suicidal ideation among Malaysian undergraduates. In other words, individuals with higher levels of cognitive flexibility are more likely to solve problems effectively and adapt to various challenging situations. This means that those with higher levels of cognitive flexibility are more likely to have better coping mechanisms, which in turn reduces the likelihood of developing illness and predicts suicidal thoughts.
Therefore, according to the findings of our research, cognitive flexibility has been shown to negatively predict suicidal thoughts. The current study filled the research gap by focusing on perfectionism and cognitive flexibility to examine their predictive relationships with suicidal ideation among Malaysian undergraduate students. In addition, depression (Chin & Wu, 2020; Ibrahim et al., 2014) and self-esteem (Chin & Wu, 2020) have also been reported as predictors of suicidal ideation among Malaysian adolescents.
Apart from that, Foo et al. 2019) found that spiritual intelligence and psychological well-being significantly predicted suicidal ideation among Malaysian emerging adults. Thus, this study provided new insights by discovering the significant predictive relationship between perfectionism and suicidal ideation and between cognitive flexibility and suicidal ideation among college students in Malaysia. The current study revealed that perfectionism positively predicted suicidal ideation, whereas cognitive flexibility negatively predicted suicidal ideation among college students.
Rather than including common risk factors of suicidal ideation, such as experiencing negative life events, depression and anger (Bae et al., 2013), practitioners can further introduce more potential risk factors such as perfectionism and cognitive flexibility. To conclude, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the predictive relationship between perfectionism and suicidal ideation, and between cognitive flexibility and suicidal ideation among Malaysian undergraduate students. Despite the limitations, the findings revealed that a higher level of perfectionism positively predicted suicidal ideation among undergraduate students in Malaysia.
The current study provided insight into the relationship between perfectionism, cognitive flexibility and suicidal ideation. Future research was recommended to conduct more in-depth studies and consider more variables that could produce a change in the relationship between perfectionism and cognitive flexibility and suicidal ideation in the general population.
