A STUDY OF SUICIDAL IDEATIONAMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN RELATION TO SOME DEMOGRAPHICVARIABLES
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N.RaghuKumar,Dr.M.EstherSuneela1(Retd.D.E.O.),Research
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ABSTRACT
The present study aims to find out the study of suicidal ideation among secondary school students concerning some demographic variables. In this research, the descriptivesurveyresearchdesignwasusedandastudywasconductedonasampleof310studentsstudyinginsecondaryschoolsinGunturdistrictintheA.P Suicidal IdeationScaledevelopedandstandardizedbyDevendraSinghSisodiyaandVibhutiBhatnagarwasusedtocollectdataforthepresentresearch.Thereare25itemson thescale,21ofwhicharepositiveand4arenegative.Thisscaleisfollowedbyfivedifferentresponsesforeachitemsuchas'StronglyAgree','Agree','Undecided', 'Disagree',and'StronglyDisagree'.Scoringforpositiveitemsis5,4,3,2,and1,andnegativeitemsscoringisinthereverse.Ahigherscoreindicateshighersuicidal ideation. The test-retest reliability is 0.78 and the consistency value for the scale is 0.81.Results of the study revealed that Secondary school students differed significantlyintheirlevelsofsuicidalideation.Gender,classstudying,localityofliving,andmediumofinstructionofsecondaryschoolstudentsmakenosignificant differenceintheirsuicidalideation.
INTRODUCTION:
Theword"suicide"isderivedfromtheLatinword"Suicidium"whichmeans"to kill oneself". Sir Thomas Brown was the first to use the word suicide in his "ReligioMedicine"in1642.Suicideisanactofself-killing,self-destruction,or self-murder The main factors leading to student suicides are academic stress, depression, helplessness, sexual harassment, exam failure, broken families, anger,financialproblems,incompetentproblem-solvingskills,loneliness,isolation, and love breakdowns. Furr et al. (2001) found that conflicts with a boyfriendorgirlfriendareamajorcauseofcollegestudentsuicide.AssociateProfesrd sorinPediatricsDr AnuradhaBosesaid,"Suicideisthe3 leadingcauseofdeath amongIndianyouthbetweentheagesof15-19.Oneoutofeverythreesuicide casesinIndiaiscommittedbypeopleduetoacademicpressure.
Thedefinitionofsuicideisdebatableinthesociologist'scleardefinitionofsuicidethattheresultofsuicideisdeath.Inthesameway,avarietyofbehaviorsare calledsuicidalorlife-threatening-withoutanyassumptionsaboutintentoroutcome (Lönnqvist, 1977). Stengel (1973) defined suicide as an act of self-harm undertakenwithmoreorlessself-harm.
SuicidalIdeation:
Suicidalthoughts,alsoknownassuicidalthoughts,areaboutthinking,contemplating,orplanningsuicide.Therangeofsuicidalthoughtsvariesfromfleeting thoughts,toelaboratethoughts,todetailedplanning.Suicidalideationisusually associatedwithdepressionandothermentaldisorders;However,itseemstobe associatedwithmanyothermentaldisorders,lifeevents,andfamilyevents,allof whichincreasetheriskofsuicidalthoughts.Suicidehasbecomeoneoftheleadingcausesofdeathamongadolescentsworldwide.Suicidalbehaviorsincrease rapidlyinadolescenceandsettleintheearlymiddle.Theprevalenceofsuicideat thisagewas19.8%forsuicidethoughtsand3.1%forsuicideattempts(Nocketal 2008). The incidence of suicide peaks in the middle of adolescence and is the thirdleadingcauseofdeathfromsuicideatthatage,withasteadilyincreasing numberofdeathsduringadolescence.
Suicidalideationisthetendencyofapersontohavesuicidalthoughtsorattempt suicide.Itcanalsoindicatesuicide,suicidecrisis,suicidalideation,para-suicide, andfailedsuicideattempts.Suicidalbehaviorsincludesuicideplanning,suicide attempts, and complete suicide. Suicidal behavior, including suicidal ideation and suicide attempts,is a major concern, along with completesuicide, proving thattrauma,poisoning,orsuffocationcanleadtoaperson'sself-induceddeath. "Suicidalideationcanbedefinedasmildtosevere,self-inflictedinjury,oracontinuumofthoughtsaboutplan,behavior,anddeathasaresultofone'ssuicide" (Reynolds,1991,p.290).
CausesofSuicidalIdeation:
Suicidalideationisnotalwaysrelatedtotheunderlyingcondition. Thiscanbe caused by:grief, sexual harassment, financial problems, repentance, rejection, relationshipbreakdown,unemployment,andmaterialabuse.
SymptomsofSuicidalIdeation:
1. Feelshelplessandweak. 2. Feelsintenselypainfulemotionally
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Someonemayfeelunhappyaboutfrequentandfunevents.Can'teven enjoysocial/familygatheringsorfunctions.
14. Regretandself-criticism.
Oursocietyisbecomingmoreandmorephysical.Stressisincreasingdaybyday, especially among students during adolescence. Unrest and depression occur in almostallspheresoftheirlife,leadingtounbalancedpersonalitiesinsocietyand therebyhinderingitsprogress.Parentsdonothavetimetoguidechildren.This study is intended to find a study of suicidal ideation in high school students in Gunturdistrict,AndhraPradesh.
REVIEWOFRELATEDLITERATURE:
Ranganathanetal.(2020)'studyshowthatemotionalintelligence,schoolproblem,andfamilyenvironmentconfirmsuicidalthoughtsinahypotheticaldirection.Thediscussionoftheoutcomesthatfollowaroundthesimilaritiesandcontradictionsinpsychologicalandsocialissuesandsuicidalideationisveryhigh. Thecurrentstudysuggeststhatthetendencytocommitsuicideislowerifthereis highemotionalintelligence.Theabilitytoseeandmonitorone'sfeelingsreduces theoddsofsuicidalthoughtsandattemptsatrisk.Ithasbeenobservedthatunfavourable family environment leads to suicidal thoughts in adolescent girls. Parental factors play a major role in the mental well-being of children.Francis (2019)' research indicated there is an important relationship between suicidal ideationandemotionalcapacityincollegestudents.Thereisnostatisticallysig-
Copyright©2022,IERJ.Thisopen-accessarticleispublishedunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial4.0InternationalLicensewhichpermitsShare(copyandredistributethematerialinany mediumorformat)andAdapt(remix,transform,andbuilduponthematerial)undertheAttribution-NonCommercialterms.
nificant relationship between college students' suicidal ideation and gender RavikumarandGopalakrishna's(2018)investigationrevealedthatasignificant differencewasfoundbetweenmaleandfemaleprofessionalstudentsinsuicidal ideation.Femalestudentshavemoresuicidalthoughtsthanmalevocationalstudents.
StatementoftheProblem:
Thetopicofthepresentstudyis“AStudyofSuicidalIdeationamongSecondary SchoolStudentsinrelationtoSomeDemographicVariables”.
ObjectivesoftheCurrentResearch:
1. Tostudythelevelsofsuicidalideationamongsecondaryschoolstudents.
2. To study and compare the difference in the suicidal ideation of secondary schoolstudentsbasedonthefollowingvariables.
a) Gender
b) Classstudying
c) Localityofliving
d) Mediumofinstruction
NullHypothesesoftheCurrentResearch:
1. Secondaryschoolstudentsdon'tdifferintheirlevelsofsuicidalideation.
2. There is no significant difference in the suicidal ideation of secondary schoolstudentsbasedonthefollowingvariables.
a) Gender
b) Classstudying
c) Localityofliving
d) Mediumofinstruction
Limitations:
1. The geographical area of the investigation is limited to one district, i.e., GunturinAndhraPradesh.
2. The sample size is limited to 310 students studying in secondary school schools.
th th
3. Thisstudywasrestrictedto8 and9 -gradestudentsonly
4. Thelevelsofsignificanceconsideredinthisresearchare0.05and0.01.
5. Thepresentinvestigationisconfinedto5secondaryschools.
6. Thepresentstudyisconfinedtooneeducationaldivisioni.e.,Bapatlaoutof 5.
ResearchDesign:
Inthisresearch,thedescriptivesurveyresearchdesignwasusedandastudywas conductedonasampleof310studentsstudyinginsecondaryschoolsfromthe Guntur district inA.P.This sample was selected using a proportional stratified randomsamplingmethodtoconfirmpopulationrepresentation.
a) Toolused:
ThesuicidalIdeationScaledevelopedandstandardizedbyDevendraSingh Sisodiya and Vibhuti Bhatnagar was used to collect data for the present research.Thereare25itemsonthescale,21ofwhicharepositiveand4are negative. This scale is followed by five different responses for each item suchas'StronglyAgree','Agree','Undecided','Disagree',and'StronglyDisagree'.Scoringforpositiveitemsis5,4,3,2,and1,andnegativeitemsscoring is in the reverse.Ahigher score indicates higher suicidal ideation.The test-retestreliabilityis0.78andtheconsistencyvalueforthescaleis0.81.
b) StatisticalTechniquesUsed:
Mean,Standarddeviation,Percentage,andCriticalRatiowereemployedfor theanalysisofthedatainthepresentstudy
RESULTSANDDISCUSSION:
H:Secondaryschoolstudentsdon'tdifferintheirlevelsofsuicidalideation.
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Table1:ClassificationoftheTotalSampleonSuicidalIdeation
ualofthesuicidalideationscale.Hence,secondaryschoolstudentsdifferedsignificantlyintheirlevelsofsuicidalideation.
H:Thegenderofsecondaryschoolstudentsmakesnosignificantdifferencein 2 theirsuicidalideation.
Table2:DataandResultofTestofSignificantDifferenceintheMean ScoreofsuicidalideationinrelationtoGender
Variable N Mean SD D SED C.R. Remark
Male 149 50.56 12.91 1.15 1.44 0.80* N.S.@0.05 level
Female 161 51.71 12.47
FromTable2,thecalculatedvalueofthecriticalratio(0.80)islessthanthecriticalvalueof1.96atthelevelof0.05.Therefore,thenullhypothesisisaccepted. Hence,itisfoundthatthegenderofsecondaryschoolstudentsmakesnosignificant difference in their suicidal ideation.The average difference (1.15) was favourableforfemalestudents.Itcanbestatedthatfemalestudentshaveaverage suicidalideationthantheirfemalecounterparts,butitisnotstatisticallysignificant.
H:Classstudyingofsecondaryschoolstudentsmakesnosignificantdifference 3 intheirsuicidalideation.
Table3:DataandResultofTestofSignificantDifferenceintheMean ScoreofsuicidalideationinrelationtoClassStudying
Variable N Mean SD D SED C.R. Remark
From table 1, 36% of secondary school students have a low level of suicidal ideation.Theremaining64%ofsecondaryschoolstudentsobtainedanaverage levelofsuicidalideation.Thisinterpretationispresentedherebasedontheman-
th8 Class 131 50.61 12.43 0.95 1.45 0.65* N.S.@0.05 level
th9 Class 179 51.56 12.87
FromTable3,thecalculatedvalueofthecriticalratio(0.65)islessthanthecriticalvalueof1.96atthelevelof0.05.Therefore,thenullhypothesisisaccepted. Hence,itisfoundthatclassstudyingofsecondaryschoolstudentsmakesnosignificant difference in their suicidal ideation.The average difference (0.95) was favourable for 9thclass students. It can be stated that 9thclassstudents have averagesuicidalideationthantheircounterparts,butitisnotstatisticallysignificant.
H:Localityoflivingofsecondaryschoolstudentsmakesnosignificantdiffer- 4 enceintheirsuicidalideation.
Table4:DataandResultofTestofSignificantDifferenceintheMean ScoreofsuicidalideationinrelationtoLocalityofliving
Variable N Mean SD D SED C.R. Remark
Rural 146 52.29 12.28 2.14 1.43 1.50* N.S.@ 0.05level Urban 164 50.15 12.98
FromTable4,thecalculatedvalueofthecriticalratio(1.43)islessthanthecriticalvalueof1.96atthelevelof0.05.Therefore,thenullhypothesisisaccepted. Hence,itisfoundthatthelocalityoflivingofsecondaryschoolstudentsmakes nosignificantdifferenceintheirsuicidalideation.Theaveragedifference(2.14) wasfavourableforruralstudents.Itcanbestatedthatruralstudentshaveaverage suicidalideationthantheircounterparts,butitisnotstatisticallysignificant.
H:Themediumofinstructionforsecondaryschoolstudentsmakesnosignifi- 5 cantdifferenceintheirsuicidalideation.
Table5:DataandResultofTestofSignificantDifferenceintheMean ScoreofsuicidalideationinrelationtoMediumofInstruction
Variable N Mean SD D SED C.R. Remark
English 153 50.52 12.69 1.26 1.44 0.88* N.S.@0.05 level
Telugu 157 51.78 12.68
*Notsignificantat0.05level
FromTable5,thecalculatedvalueofthecriticalratio(0.88)islessthanthecriticalvalueof1.96atthelevelof0.05.Therefore,thenullhypothesisisaccepted. Hence,itisfoundthatthemediumofinstructionforsecondaryschoolstudents makesnosignificantdifferenceintheirsuicidalideation.Theaveragedifference (1.26)wasfavourableforTelugumediumstudents.ItcanbestatedthatTelugu mediumstudentshaveaveragesuicidalideationthantheircounterparts,butitis notstatisticallysignificant.
FINDINGSOFTHESTUDY:
1. Secondary school students differed significantly in their levels of suicidal ideation. 2. Thegenderofsecondaryschoolstudentsmakesnosignificantdifferencein theirsuicidalideation.
3. Classstudyingofsecondaryschoolstudentsmakesnosignificantdifference intheirsuicidalideation.
4. Thelocalityoflivingofsecondaryschoolstudentsmakesnosignificantdifferenceintheirsuicidalideation.
5. Themediumofinstructionforsecondaryschoolstudentsmakesnosignificantdifferenceintheirsuicidalideation.
EducationalImplication:
1. Secondaryschoolstudentsvaryintheirlevelsofsuicidalideationandthereforethestudysuggestspersonalizedevaluationapproachestoassessthefactorsthatmotivatethemtomakeaseriousdecisionandprovidethepsychological, social, and other support they need to rethink and take better and wiserdecisionstofaceinlife'schallenges.
2. Itwasfoundthatthegender,classstudy,areaofresidence,andmediumof instructionofsecondaryschoolstudentsdidnotdiffersignificantlyintheir suicidalideation.Suicidalthoughtsofhighschoolstudentsshouldmanage intheschoolenvironmentscientificallyandrealistically Anysignofstress shouldbeidentifiedimmediatelyandthenecessaryassistanceextended.Parents must be advised to keep their intentions realistic and meaningful. It requires assessing students' interests, attitudes, interests, and talents and helpingstudentschoosecoursesandeducationalprogramstailoredtotheir interests.Teachersneedtobetrainedtomaintainalearningenvironmentasa learnercenter
CONCLUSION:
Thestudyaimedtofindsuicidalthoughtsatdifferentlevelsinhighschoolstudents. Research has shown that the gender, class study, area of residence, and mediumofinstructionofsecondaryschoolstudentsdidnotshowasignificantdifferenceintheirsuicidalideation.Adolescentswithserioussuicidalthoughtsin groupsreceivedlesssatisfactionandsupportfromtheirsocialnetworks.However,adolescentswithlowsuicidalideationreceivedmoresatisfactionandsupport from their social support network compared to other groups. This can be attributed to their problems/conflicts among family members, demanding parents,brokenfamily,rejectionfrompeers,lowsocioeconomicstatus,lackofcoping strategies, and working parents. Regularly testing school children for suicidalbehaviourcanhelpidentifyandpreventsuiciderisk.Familyandpeerinterventionscanbeusedtocombatsuicidalbehaviourduringadolescence.
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