The Epidemiology of Suicide Among Students at Colleges and Universities in the United States

All published studies and selected unpublished reports on the incidence of suicide among students at colleges and universities in the United States are reviewed. Compared with studies relying upon official (i.e., governmental) records of suicide, studies relying on informal sources are found to underestimate the incidence of student suicide by about 30 percent. Both sources of data, however, indicate that the incidence of student suicide is significantly and dramatically lower (about 46 percent) than that of non-students. For female students it is only marginally lower (about 91 percent). Institutional size and prestige are not significantly related to the incidence of student suicide, nor is class standing. The presence of psychosis is the most discriminating individual difference variable, increasing the risk of suicide by a factor of 200 over baseline rates in the student population. Contact with campus mental health services is also associated with a significant (six fold) increase in risk for suicide. Depression is upiquitous and signals only a doubling of risk for suicide among students. Method of suicide is a particularly noteworthy variable. Most importantly, male students are half as likely as males generally to employ the most common means of suicide, firearms. The same trend is found for female students. There is suggestive evidence that student suicides occur more frequently than would be expected during the months of September, January and March. The incidence of student suicide is significantly elevated during weekdays (Monday-Thursday. Student suicide occurs disproportionately often during the midnight to 6:00am period, but this finding is only suggestive and may not be a contrast with non-student suicides. The implication of these findings for the prevention of student suicide are briefly discussed. Suggestions for further epidemiologic studies of student suicide are made.