College students' experiences with suicide and reactions to suicidal verbalizations: A model for prevention

This paper describes experiences with suicidality among college students. Of 140 students in two samples who responded to questionnaires, all but 13 reported contact with peers who expressed suicidal intentions or attempted suicide, and/or expressed suicidal feelings or attempted suicide themselves. These verbalizations of suicidal feelings and attempts are described, and a model of the effectiveness of prevention of suicide by means of appropriate peer reactions is presented. This model is based upon results of multivariate log-linear analysis of qualitative data by the method of maximum likelihood. The model, replicated in the second sample, suggests that an open response of discussing suicidal feelings is generally perceived as helpful, bu is less likely to be effective when the suicidal ideation follows the loss of a significant person. Implications for prevention are discussed.