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.