Gender-Specific Related Factors for Suicidal Ideation During COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown Among 5,175 Chinese Adolescents

Middle school students' psychological health on suicide ideation: based on latent profile analysis

Introduction

This study identifies potential categories of mental health for adolescents in different school years and further analyzes the relationship between these categories and suicidal ideation.

Methods

A total of 1944 middle school students completed SCL-90 and Self-rating Idea of Suicide Scale on November 29, 2022, selecting via a whole-group sampling method. Latent profile analysis was used to analyze the psychological health subtypes of students from a middle school in Southwest China. The R3step method and the DU3step method were conducted to analyze the predictive role of demographic variables and the effects of different profiles on suicidal ideation.

Results

Different potential categories of psychological health were observed among middle school students. Junior middle school students can be classified into three types: Psychological Health Type (62.3%), Low-risk Type (27.1%) and High-risk Type (10.7%). Senior middle school students can be classified into four types: Psychological Health Type (43.3%), Low-risk Type (33.9%), Medium -risk Type (16.8%), and High-risk Type (6.0%). Gender and subjective family atmosphere are predictors of psychological health, and they also influence the population distribution of psychological health patterns in different sections of middle school students. Girls and students with poor subjective family atmosphere are more prone to experiencing psychological problems. There were significant differences in suicidal ideation among different potential categories of psychological health of different sections middle school students (χ 2 = 1178.71, 1174.85, p<0.001). Among senior high school students classified as High-risk Type, they exhibited the highest score for suicidal ideation.

Conclusion

There is obvious group heterogeneity in psychological health of different sections middle school students. Older students are more likely to have suicidal thoughts.

Resilience and Depressive Symptoms Mediated Pathways from Social Support to Suicidal Ideation Among Undergraduates During the COVID-19 Campus Lockdown in China

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected people's mental health. The direct and indirect pathways between social support and suicidal ideation in the period are still unclear. This study explores the pathways from social support to suicidal ideation through resilience and depressive symptoms among undergraduates during the COVID-19 campus lockdown.

Methods

During two weeks of the COVID-19 campus lockdown, a total of 12,945 undergraduates at a university in eastern China completed the questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics, suicidal ideation, social support, resilience, and depressive symptoms. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to analyze the direct and indirect pathways from social support to suicidal ideation via the mediators of resilience and depressive symptoms.

Results

Of the 12,917 undergraduates included in this study, 7.4% (n = 955) reported they sometimes had suicidal ideation, 0.8% (n = 109) reported they often had suicidal ideation, 0.9% (n = 122) reported they always had suicidal ideation, and 13.2% (n = 1704) reported they had depressive symptoms. Social support exerted significant direct (β = -0.058), indirect (β = -0.225), and total (β = -0.283) effects on suicidal ideation; 20.5% of the total effect was direct, and 79.5% was indirect. Social support predicted suicidal ideation through resilience (β = -0.038), and depressive symptoms (β = -0.087), explaining 13.4%, and 30.7% of the total effect, respectively. Social support predicted suicidal ideation through the sequential mediation of resilience and depressive symptoms (β = -0.099), explaining 35.0% of the total effect.

Conclusion

This is the first study to provide the evidence of pathways from social support to suicidal ideation through resilience and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 campus lockdown among undergraduates in China. Both direct and indirect pathways from social support to suicidal ideation were identified as intervention targets to reduce suicidal ideation.

Longitudinal associations between multiple mental health problems and suicidal ideation among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

Recent research suggested that COVID-19-related multiple mental health problems were associated with an increased risk for suicidal ideations (SIs), but population-based data demonstrating these associations are scarce. This study aimed to estimate the cumulative effects of psychological risk factors on SIs during the outbreak and remission periods of COVID-19 using a cumulative risk model, as well as sex differences.

METHODS

A total of 68,685 college students in China participated in the survey during two phases of the pandemic (T1 and T2). Mental health risks (acute stress, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms) and sociodemographic characteristics were measured at T1, and SIs were assessed at T1 and T2. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to determine the combined effect of multiple mental health problems on SIs at T1 and T2.

RESULTS

The prevalence of SIs increased from the early periods of the COVID-19 pandemic (7.6%) to the later periods (10.0%). Depression was a powerful risk factor for SIs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals with >3 mental risks would be most likely to experience rapidly increasing SIs during the early periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sex exerted different effects on the cumulative risk model of SIs.

CONCLUSIONS

Interventions, such as mental health education and improving utilization of student support services, should be implemented. There is a crucial need for early intervention and prevention efforts aimed at males with greater than three mental health problems.