Suicide ideation in higher education students:influence of social support

• Main Author: Gonçalves, Amadeu
• Publication Date: 2014
• Other Authors: Sequeira, Carlos, Duarte, João, Freitas, Paula
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/32791
• topic: Suicidal ideation; Higher education; students; Social support

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of students’ suicidal ideation and to assess its connection with social support. Methods: Quantitative, descriptive and exploratory study on a sample of 1074 students from a higher education institution in Portugal. The data was collected through an online platform that included a questionnaire regarding the sociodemographic and academic pro le of the students, the Social/Familiar Support Satisfaction Scale1 and the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire2. Results: Students’ ages varies between 17 and 49 (X = 23,9 years old ± 6,107 sd), with the great majority (64.7%) being females. Results show that the presence/severity of suicidal thoughts is low (X = 13.84; ± 20.29 SD) on a scale from 0 to 180 and cut-off point > 41 for values that suggest potential suicide risk, identifying 84 students at risk (7.8%). We veri ed signi cant connections between suicidal ideation and some dimensions of social support: social activities (r = 0.305; P = .000), intimacy (r = 0.272; P = .000) and overall social support (r = 0.168; P = .002). Conclusions: Suicidal ideation severity is higher on students who are far from home and living alone; students with weak social/familiar support networks (less involvement on social activities and intimate relationships). These results allow us to conclude that a frail social support network positively associates with ideation and suicidal risk.