3) Emotional variables including suicidality
Psychological status was assessed using the following four variables:
perceived health status, perceived level of happiness, perceived level
of stress, and experience of depressive symptoms. Subjective healthiness
was assessed with the following question: “What do you think about your
health state?” The answer to this question was categorized as follows:
healthy, average, and unhealthy. Perceived level of happiness was
assessed based on a self-rating happiness scale and classified into
happy, average, and unhappy. Perceived stress status was also assessed
with the following question: “How often do you feel stress?” and was
categorized as follows: often, sometimes and rarely. The following
question was used to assess depression: “Within the last year, did you
feel sad, blue, or depressed that caused cessation of your usual
activities almost every day for two weeks or more?” This question was
based on KYRBS and was answered with a binary response (yes or no). The
measurement of suicidal ideation was also a binary dependent variable
(yes or no) with the examining question being, “During the past 12
months, have you ever seriously thought of committing suicide?”
Repetition of depressive mood and suicidal ideation were not assessed.