Suicidal Ideation Among College Students in the United States

Suicidal Ideation Among College Students in the United States

Nancy D. Brener and Lisa Cohen Barrios from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Sohela Sabur Hassan from the University of Texas at Houston conducted this experiment to see what percentage of college undergraduate students had contemplated suicide within the past 12 months. A survey was sent to a nationally representative sample of undergraduate students to assess the correlation between substance abuse and suicidal ideation. This was the first study to examine such behavior of a nationally representative sample.

The questionnaire that was sent to randomly selected college students, The National College Health Risk Behavior Survey (NCHRBS), was created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was composed of 96 multiple-choice questions. It asked questions about suicide (i.e. "During the past 12 months, did you ever seriously consider attempting suicide?), along with many others, inquiring if they had actually attempted suicide or caused any bodily harm that had required treatment. Questions concerning the use of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal substance abuse were also asked. Other questions that inquired background history were also included in the survey. These types of questions asked for various information regarding race/ethnicity, age, and parents' level of completed education.

When the results had been polled, 63% of the respondents were 18-24 years old, 56% were female, 73% White, 10% Black, 7% Hispanic and 10% were of other racial/ethnic backgrounds. An average of 1 in 10 students that responded had seriously considered attempting suicide within the 12 months preceding the survey. Also, 7% of the students had actually made a suicide plan, while 2% had attempted suicide at least once and 0.4% made a suicide attempt that required medical attention.

The survey found gender and parents' education level did not seem to provoke suicidal tendencies, but other demographic factors. These other such factors included age, class standing, race/ethnicity, living arrangement, and fraternity/sorority membership. The questionnaire indicated that freshmen and sophomores were more likely to consider suicide than upper-classmen; students of ethnic/racial backgrounds other than White, Black or Hispanic were more likely to have considered suicide; students who lived alone, with friends/roommates, or parents/guardians were more likely than those who lived with a partner or spouse; students who were members of a fraternity/sorority were less likely to have considered suicide. The components of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal substance use were then configured into the results.