Suicide ideation in higher education students: influence of social support

Abstract

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 profile of the students, the Social/Familiar Support Satisfaction Scale1 and the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire2.

Results

Students’ ages varies between 17 and 49 ($\overline{X}=23\text{,}9$ years old ± 6,107 sd), with the great majority (64.7%) being females. Results show that the presence/severity of suicidal thoughts is low ($\overline{X}=13.84$; ± 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 verified significant 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.