Emotional Exhaustion and Academic Stress as Predictors of Suicide Ideation among Undergraduates
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37134/jcit.vol15.1.7a.2025Keywords:
Emotional exhaustion, Academic stress, Suicide ideation, UndergraduatesAbstract
This study examined Emotional Exhaustion and Academic stress as predictors of suicide ideation among undergraduates at the University of Benin. Three research questions were raised, and their corresponding hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 alpha significance level. This research adopted the correlational survey research design, while the population for this study consisted of all the students at the University of Benin. A purposive sampling of three hundred and fifty (350) was selected and the sample size was 50 students chosen from seven faculties from the University of Benin. The multi-stage random sampling technique was used for this work. The research instrument used was a Questionnaire titled Suicide Ideation, Academic Stress, and Emotional Exhaustion Scale” (SIASEESQ) with a reliability coefficient of 0.797, 0.695, and 0.768. The data was analyzed using linear regression. The findings revealed that Emotional exhaustion, Academic stress, and their interactions predicted Suicide ideation among undergraduates. It was therefore recommended that the universities should make the learning environment conducive for the students so as to reduce academic stress, by improving on the learning conditions of the classrooms and other basic facilities for learning amonst othes.
Downloads
References
Allred, A., Granger, M., & Hogstrom, T. (2013). The relationship between academic major, personality type, and stress in college students. Lake Forest College Primary Article, Eukaryon, 9, 1-4.
Aloba, O., Adefemi, S., & Aloba, T. (2018). Positive and negative suicide ideation (PANSI) inventory: Initial psychometric properties as a suicide risk screening tool among Nigerian university students. Clinical Medicine Insights: Psychiatry, 9, 1179557317751910.
Aloba, O., Ojeleye, O., & Aloba, T. (2017). The psychometric characteristics of the 4-item Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R) as a screening tool in a non-clinical sample of Nigerian university students. Asian journal of psychiatry, 26, 46-51.
Amare, T., Meseret Woldeyhannes, S., Haile, K., & Yeneabat, T. (2018). Prevalence and associated factors of suicide ideation and attempt among adolescent high school students in Dangila Town, Northwest Ethiopia. Psychiatry journal. 2018(1), 7631453.
Becker, J. L., Milad, M. P., & Klock, S. C. (2006). Burnout, depression, and career satisfaction: Cross-sectional study of obstetrics and gynecology residents. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 195(5), 1444-1449.
Bilsen, J. (2018). Suicide and youth: risk factors. Frontiers in psychiatry, 9, 540.
Brenninkmeyer, V., Van Yperen, N. W., & Buunk, B. P. (2001). Burnout and depression are not identical twins: is decline of superiority a distinguishing feature?. Personality and individual differences, 30(5), 873-880.
Conner, K. R., Duberstein, P. R., Conwell, Y., Seidlitz, L., & Caine, E. D. (2001). Psychological vulnerability to completed suicide: A review of empirical studies. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 31(4), 367-385.
Hacker, K. A., Suglia, S. F., Fried, L. E., Rappaport, N., & Cabral. H. (2006). Developmental differences in risk factors for suicide attempts between ninth and eleventh graders. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 36(2), 154-166.
Halford, E. A., Lake, A. M., & Gould, M. S. (2020). Google searches for suicide and suicide risk factors in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. PloS one, 15(7), e0236777.
January, J., Madhombiro, M., Chipamaunga, S., Ray, S., Chingono, A., & Abas, M. (2018). Prevalence of depression and anxiety among undergraduate university students in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review protocol. Systematic reviews, 7, 1-5.
Kadapatti, M. G., & Vijayalaxmi, A. H. M. (2012). Stressors of academic stress-a study on pre-university students. Indian Journal of Scientific Research, 3(1), 171-175.
Khan, A., Mustaffa, M. S., Hamdan, A. R., & Ahmad, R. (2014). Influence of psychological factors on suicide ideation among Malaysian and Indian adolescent. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 143, 347-351.
Lee, M. T., Wong, B. P., Chow, B. W. Y., & McBride-Chang, C. (2006). Predictors of suicide ideation and depression in Hong Kong adolescents: Perceptions of academic and family climates. Suicide and life-threatening behavior, 36(1), 82-96..
Lester, D. (2006). Suicide and Islam. Archives of suicide research, 10(1), 77–97.
Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual review of psychology, 52(1), 397-422.
Olaseni, J. T. (2018). Rumination and academic hardiness as predicators of suicidal ideation among nigerian adolescents. Abnorm Behav Psychol, 4(1), 133-137.
Reynolds, E. (2015). Perceived stress and suicidal behaviors in college students: Conditional indirect effects of depressive symptoms and mental health stigma.
Rosiek, A., Rosiek-Kryszewska, A., Leksowski, Ł., & Leksowski, K. (2016). Chronic stress and suicidal thinking among medical students. International journal of environmental research and public health, 13(2), 212.
Sharma, B., Nam, E. W., Kim, H. Y., & Kim, J. K. (2015). Factors associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempt among school-going urban adolescents in Peru. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(11), 14842-14856.
Shim, G., & Jeong, B. (2018). Predicting suicidal ideation in college students with mental health screening questionnaires. Psychiatry investigation, 15(11), 1037..
Swahn, M. H., Bossarte, R. M., Elimam, D. M., Gaylor, E., & Jayaraman, S. (2012). Prevalence and correlates of suicidal ideation and physical fighting: A comparison between students in Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and the United States.
Venumadhava, G. S., & Mayuri, S. (2014). Academic stress and suicidal tendency. Golden Research Toughts, 3(11), 1-10.
Visoso Salgado, A., Sánchez Reyna, P. A., & Montiel Bastida, N. M. (2012). Síndrome de burnout en la Facultad de Odontología de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México: un estudio comparativo. International Journal of Odontostomatology, 6(2), 129-138.
World Health Organization. (2018). Suicide. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Worly, B., Verbeck, N., Walker, C., & Clinchot, D. M. (2019). Burnout, perceived stress, and empathic concern: differences in female and male Millennial medical students. Psychology, health & medicine, 24(4), 429-438.
Wright, J. (2015). International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioural Sciences (2nd ed., pp. 748–752). Elsevier. https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780080970875/international-encyclopedia-of-the-social-and-behavioral-sciences#book-info
Zhang, X., Wang, H., Xia, Y., Liu, X., & Jung, E. (2012). Stress, coping and suicide ideation in Chinese college students. Journal of adolescence, 35(3), 683-690.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 UPSI Press
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
