Page No 311-316
Ishita Chatterjee and Jayanti Basu
University of Calcutta, Kolkata
The present study investigated the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that could evoke
suicidal ideation among female college students. Content analysis (Berelson’s
Method) of interview of 120 female college students revealed four broad factors
leading to suicidal ideation namely, Academic, Interpersonal, and Environment
related. Events like public embarrassment due to some freaky incident, harassment,
rape and being jilted in love were relatively more important while events like death
of a loved one and acute financial crisis were found relatively less significant for
this sample. Further, the adult suicidal ideation questionnaire has been administered
to them to assess the frequency of occurrence of suicidal thought within the past
one month. Results revealed that about 12.5% of the students had high suicidal
ideation. Reasons for living (total score) has been found to have negative but
significant relation to suicidal thought. Concern for future and moral objections is
found to be strongly and negatively related to suicidal thought. This study reveals
that a strong and positive reasons for living is useful in preventing suicide. Moreover
the findings are relevant for therapist and counsellors in assessing suicidal risks.