Suicidal Thoughts Among College Students Increasing at Alarming Rate

Most American college students have suicidal thoughts at some point during their lifetime, a new survey from the National Research Consortium of Counseling Centers in Higher Education revealed.

The comprehensive Web-based survey on suicidal thinking among college students found that more than half of college students have considered suicide at some points in their lives. The study found that 15% of students admitted having seriously tried killing themselves and more than 5% reported making a suicide attempt.

The findings from the National Research Consortium of Counseling Centers in Higher Education based at the University of Texas at Austin were presented Sunday at the 116th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Boston.

For the study, David Drum, a professor of education psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, surveyed more than 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 70 US colleges and universities.

The researchers found that 55 percent of the 15,010 undergraduates surveyed had ever thought of suicide, while 18 percent seriously considered it and 8 percent made an attempt. In addition, out of the 11,441 graduate students, 50 percent had suicidal thoughts, while 15 percent seriously considered it and 6 percent attempted it.

"Suicidal crises are a common occurrence on college campuses," said Chris Brownson, director of the University of Texas Counseling and Mental Health Center in Austin and one of the study's researchers.

"A lot of previous research has indicated the severity of mental health issues on college campuses has been increasing -- not decreasing -- and when you look at the lifetime prevalence rates, those are alarming statistics," he added.

Several reasons for suicidal thoughts given by the surveyed students are in the following order: wanting relief from emotional or physical pain, problems with romantic relationships, the desire to end their life and problems with school or academics.

Drum and other researchers estimate that at an average college with 18,000 undergraduate students, more than 1,000 will seriously consider committing suicide at least once in a single year.

They suggest the colleges should adopt a new model to deal with the problem of student suicidal tendencies in order to address the entire continuum of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

The collages should shift the emphasis from narrowly focused treatments, involving suicidal students and a small number of mental health professionals, to one that involves a broader cross-section of people on campus, including teachers, parents, student leaders, faculty and administrators, to address the student stresses.

"Suicide is a public mental health issue. We need to focus on prevention, building resilience in students and creating communities," said Brownson.