Abstract:

Objective     To test reliability and validity of Chinese version of Rosenberg (1965) SelfEsteem Scale (SES) in rural suicides and their controls, and to explore the relationship between selfesteem and rural suicide. Methods       A paired casecontrol study was conducted. 25 towns in 3 counties of Shandong Province were randomly selected. The case group involved suicide cases that happened from 1 September 2008 to 31 August 2009 in the 25 towns. The controls were selected from normal subjects matched with the same age (no more than 3 years differences), same gender, and same or neighbor village as the suicide cases. Data from 200 suicides and 200 paired controls were collected. ResultsThe Cronbach′s α of suicides was 0.880, and the Cronbach′s α of the controls was 0.875.  Fluctuation of Cronbach′s α coefficients of SES was slight after each item was deleted. Correlation coefficients between total scores of the SES and Trait Anxiety Inventory (TAI) were  -0.509 and -0.564 in suicides and controls, respectively (P<0.01). The factor analysis showed that two common factors extracted from the SES in the two groups could explain 61.700% and 63.802% of the total variance. There was a significant difference in SES scores between suicides and controls(t=17.525, P<0.01). The odds ratio (OR) of selfesteem associated with suicide was 0.880 (95%CI=0.8180.947).  Conclusion      SES has high reliability and validity, and it is worth applying in rural suicide study in China. Self-esteem is negatively associated with suicide in the rural population.

Key words: Suicide; Self-esteem; Reliability; Validity; Rural