Social and psychological factors of the suicidal tendencies of Chinese medical students

BACKGROUND: Over the past few decades, concern about suicide by college students has been on the rise worldwide, in general and in China particularly. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of social and psychological factors on the suicidal tendencies of Chinese medical students. FINDINGS: Of the 540 students surveyed, 48 had a suicidal tendency to some extent. The highest rate of suicide was observed for fourth-year students, followed by the fifth-year, first-year, third-year, and second-year students. Female students and students not satisfied with their major had a higher rate of suicidal tendency. However, mature coping strategies had a protective effect on suicide. The stepwise regression analysis shows that academic burden, grade, and introversion/extraversion are the most significant risk factors for the suicidal tendency of Chinese medical students. CONCLUSION: Suicide is affected by demographic risk factors as well as psychological factors. Our results lend support to a multi-factorial approach to the understanding and prevention of suicide by college students.