Factors associated with suicidal ideation in veterinary medicine students

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the factors associated with suicidal ideation in students of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry at the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano, Puno, Peru. The research was descriptive, explanatory and cross-sectional, carried out with 406 undergraduate students, 51.7% (n = 210) male and 48.3% female (n = 196), with an average age of 20.9 ± 3.3 years. Alcohol consumption was evaluated with the CAGE scale (α = 0.845); depressive symptoms with the CES-D scale (α = 0.910); suicidal ideation with the Beck scale (α = 0.923); and self-esteem with the Rosenberg test (α = 0.923). The predictive model shows that self-esteem (α = 0.325; p<0.001), antidepressant consumption (α = 0.228; p<0.001), depression (α = 0.215; p<0.001) and subject failure (α = 0.246; p<0.05) predicted suicidal ideation (R2 = 0.342). Self-esteem was the factor that most influenced students' suicidal ideation.