The incidence of suicides and attempted suicides is one indicator of mental health and life satisfaction within the population. The trends in suicidal behaviour vary with sex and ethnicity within the population, and underscore the impact of culture on people's lives and wellbeing. Although incidence of suicide provides important information, there has been no systematic reporting of data within the country. The only source of national data is the statistics unit of Fiji's police force, who record all deaths that were not caused by disease, along with such data as the sex and ethnicity of the deceased. The police are willing to provide information on suicide to researchers and government bodies, within the constraints of having the staff and other resources needed to provide such information. The present article explores what we know about this important social issue, and investigates some potential ways forward for dealing with it at individual and group levels.

Dr Crabbe presents a broad overview of the sociohistory of Hawaii following western contact and its colonisation by the United States (US). He describes the constant political, societal, and psychological struggles of Kānaka Maoli (native Hawaiians) against the never-ending tides of foreign influences to the shores of Hawaii. Within his sociohistorical overview, three significant issues for Kānaka Maoli are emphasised. One issue is that of 'Āina land. (The word 'Āina is capitalised throughout because, in the Native Hawaiian worldview, 'Āina is a living entity who gives and sustains life; it is an ancestor of the Hawaiian people, and it is important to the existence of Kānaka Maoli.) The second issue has to do with Kānaka Maoli is identity, which has been impacted by various foreign contacts and US colonisation that has negatively impacted traditional Hawaiian practices, customs, beliefs, language, and society. The constant struggle of Kānaka Maoli in regaining sovereignty, or self-determination, is a third issue of significance in Dr Crabbe's article. This article will briefly discuss the interplay among, and significance of, these three issues: 'Āina, Kānaka Maoli, and sovereignty, focusing on the importance and relevance of the first for the second and third.

The Western Pacific island of Guam, located in Micronesia has a long history of colonisation. Through centuries of warfare, violence, disease, subjugation, and disregard for basic human rights and freedom, the indigenous Chamoru people have been wounded and defeated in innumerable ways. They have persevered and survived throughout the centuries, despite their traumatic history, but not without consequences. This theoretical article explores those consequences and the traumatic ‘debris’ within the context of traumatology and post-traumatic stress disorder literature, the Jewish Holocaust experience, and the modern sociopolitical atmosphere on Guam. Finally, some recommendations that have themes of empowerment, reparations, cultural renaissance, and rebirth are offered to restore balance and peace to the lives of the native Chamoru of today's Guam.

To test hypotheses formulated by Ones and Viswesvaran (1997), a cohort of 47 selected volunteer overseas development workers from New Zealand completed the NEO PI-R ‘Big Five’ personality inventory. In line with hypotheses, these workers were significantly higher than population norms on openness and its six subfacets, and on agreeableness and the subfacet of tender-mindedness, but contrary to hypotheses, they were not significantly different on either neuroticism or conscientiousness. The article argues for further research in this field.

In his article, Dr Rapadas provides a serious and thoughtful look into the traumatisation of an indigenous community. The article serves as a reminder of our history and as a call to those who believe that peace and justice are worthy and noble goals. The article also provides striking parallels to the struggles of Latinos, particularly Mexican Americans, in the United States.

Chuukese students and parents in Hawaii were interviewed about differences between schools in Hawaii and Chuuk, aspects of schooling in Hawaii that affected adjustment and suggestions for increasing Chuukese family involvement. Differences between schools in Hawaii and Chuuk included availability of materials, different expectations for teachers and students, lack of English language instruction in Chuuk and variable reading background or preparation. Barriers to adjustment to Hawaii schools included limited English proficiency, peer pressure, teachers' negative expectations or prejudice about Micronesian students and ethnic conflicts. Suggestions to facilitate family involvement and make schools more inviting included providing sports clubs for Micronesian students, opportunities for Micronesian students to share about their culture with other students and providing translators at parent–teacher meetings.

In an age of conflict and violence, the human family seeks peace-building paradigms. ‘Wisdom’ in traditional Native American culture provides a lens for exploring peace psychology. Native American culture understands ‘wisdom’ to be, ‘that the people may live’. Living implies love of life, love of others' lives, and the right to life and dignity. Here lies wisdom, that people may live with peace and justice. The Cowlitz Indians of western Washington, United States (US), traditionally, based constructive relations on the wisdom of kinship values, an ethic of generosity and reciprocity towards the wider community. Despite land loss and assimilation efforts of the dominant society, the US federal government finally recognised the Cowlitz Nation. This long awaited acknowledgment, won through adherence to traditional wisdom and values, has provided affirmation ‘that the people may live’.

Our consumer-driven society is dependent upon economic growth and people's belief that acquiring possessions will make them happier. However, the present results suggest that materialistic values and behaviours might not be associated with psychological health or individual life satisfaction in Australia. This might be attributed in part to materialism being based largely on the process of social comparison. Furthermore, materialistic values and behaviours also do not appear to be congruent with either a love of life itself — biophilia — or environmental concerns. If materialistic persons are indeed more dependent on comparisons with others, then it might be reasonably hypothesised that they would also score lower on self-esteem, and this should be a direction for future research.

Consensus is an essential ingredient for conflict resolution, reconciliation, agreement, and peace in Melanesian societies. The psychological aspects of its positive influence in establishing a common ground between conflicting parties have not been explored. From a psycho-cultural perspective, I focus on the positive dynamism of consensus. I provide the Bougainville crisis within Papua New Guinea as a case vignette to illustrate the utility and significance of consensus in the search for concrete principles to unite a ‘disoriented’ world. In doing so, the issue of incorporating indigenous psychological knowledge into mainstream psychology becomes clearer. The article searches for psychological principles germane to reducing conflict and maintaining peace. This kind of utility is exemplified in a case study of achieving consensus in Papua New Guinea.

Leo Marai's article proposes to study the central role of consensus in conflict resolution in Melanesia and to describe its particular psycho-cultural characteristics. He applies his view to the resolution of the Bougainville crisis as an illustrative example.

Integrative complexity, the interaction of conceptual and cognitive rules, is used in processing information. High integrative complexity people evaluate situations and make decisions diversely; low integrative complexity people reason simplistically and dichotomously. We examined the social psychology of South/North Korean relations in their correspondence by an integrative complexity coding process. Time series analysis predicted mean levels of integrative complexity for each half-year period between 1984 and 1997. Analysis showed that South/North Korean relations exert significant influence on integrative complexity levels. We also found a mutual effect of integrative complexity levels in the two. Major coordinative events relate to a decline in integrative complexity in the following half-year period. During South Korean presidential elections, correspondence integrative complexity levels decline in both.

I will consider the important issues relating to peace psychology that Koo and Han raise in their article, South–North Korean Relations: the integrative complexity in correspondence. Their article carries out 5 significant tasks: (a) to present the theory, integrative complexity; (b) to add to our limited analysis of divided peoples; (c) to demonstrate the complexity of cross-cultural analysis; (d) to emphasise the need to integrate historical references, culture, and many other factors to our understanding of policy decisions; (e) to analyse the relationship of power, affiliation, and achievement, with integrative complexity.