The revised Suicide Crisis Inventory-2 (SCI-2) in Chinese college students: Examining factor structure and validity

Background

The situation of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) among Chinese college students is concerning. The Suicide Crisis Inventory-2 (SCI-2), an assessment tool for suicide crisis syndrome (an imminent warning sign of STB), can effectively contribute to screening and preventing STB. However, the psychometric properties of the SCI-2 and its key items associated with STB have not been explored in Chinese college students.

Methods

We conducted two studies with a total of 11,620 Chinese college students included. In study 1 (N = 1480), we investigated the psychometric properties of the SCI-2 using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and other methods. In Study 2, we explored key SCI-2 items associated with STB with machine-learning approaches. In sample 1 (N = 5296), we selected features based on the CFA results in study 1 and built four tree-based models. In sample 2 (N = 4844), we externally tested the models. Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values were used for model interpretation.

Results

The one-factor and five-factor models of the SCI-2 are both acceptable among Chinese college students, and SCI-2 showed good internal consistency as well as convergent validity with STB and other criteria. Meanwhile, the core symptoms within the entrapment and social withdrawal clusters of the SCI-2 showed higher SHAP values to STB.

Conclusion

The SCI-2 is suitable for assessing the imminent suicide risk among Chinese college students. Symptoms of entrapment and social withdrawal need additional attention.