Table 2.
Characteristics of the study sample categorized by the frequency of suicidal thoughts over the preceding year*
| Characteristic | All students (n = 10,015) | No suicidal thoughts (n = 7872) | Occasional suicidal thoughts (n = 1775) | Frequent suicidal thoughts (n = 368) | p *** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, mean (SD) | 20.0 (1.8) | 20.0 (1.8) | 20.0 (1.8) | 19.9 (1.8) | 0.5081 |
| Female, No. (%) | 7579 (75.7) | 5926 (75.3) | 1366 (77.0) | 287 (78.0) | 0.1895 |
| Parental divorce or separation, No. (%) | 3114 (31.1) | 2342 (29.8) | 633 (35.7) | 139 (37.8) | < 0.0001 |
| Parental death, No. (%) | 376 (3.8) | 274 (3.5) | 75 (4.2) | 27 (7.3) | 0.0004 |
| Did not live in parental home during childhood, No. (%) | 196 (2.0) | 136 (1.7) | 45 (2.5) | 15 (4.1) | 0.0010 |
| Perceived economic status in childhood, No. (%) | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Adequate to very comfortable | 9193 (91.8) | 7297 (92.7) | 1730 (97.5) | 353 (95.9) | |
| Difficult to very difficult | 822 (8.2) | 575 (7.3) | 191 (10.8) | 56 (15.2) | |
| Scholarship, No. (%) | 3810 (38.0) | 2904 (36.9) | 745 (42.0) | 161 (43.8) | < 0.0001 |
| Half time or more job activities, No. (%) | 590 (5.90) | 447 (5.7) | 123 (6.9) | 20 (5.4) | < 0.0001 |
| Parental history of depression or anxiety, No. (%) ** | 3925 (43.8) | 2835 (39.8) | 885 (57.7) | 205 (65.3) | < 0.0001 |
| Personal history of depression or attempted suicide, No. (%) | 1374 (13.7) | 662 (8.4) | 496 (27.9) | 216 (58.7) | 0.1204 |
| Perceived parental support, No. (%) | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Extremely strong | 3277 (32.7) | 2835 (36.0) | 382 (21.5) | 60 (16.3) | |
| Strong | 4065 (40.6) | 3275 (41.6) | 693 (39.0) | 97 (26.4) | |
| Moderate | 1907 (19.0) | 1336 (17.0) | 450 (25.4) | 121 (32.9) | |
| Low | 610 (6.1) | 354 (4.5) | 194 (11.0) | 62 (16.9) | |
| None | 156 (1.6) | 72 (0.9) | 56 (3.2) | 28 (7.6) |
*Data are from the i-Share cohort, 2013–2017
** n = 8970, due to missing data
***P Values are based on Kruskall-Wallis test for continuous variable and Chi2 test for categorical variables