Portrait Psycho-Sociologique D'Etudiants Presentant Des Tendances Suicidaires
Authors: Hurteau Marthe , Bergeron Yvan 
Published: October 2014

The present article reports the results of a study of 550 Shawinigan Cégep students enrolled in their first year of college. The study attempts to establish the prevalence of suicidal behaviours and to describe predisposing factors identified by the authors such as family problems, lack of social support, depression, stressful events having a negative impact, and attitudes toward life and death. The information was gathered using a questionnaire combining several elements: (a) a questionnaire similar to the one used by Lamontagne (1986) and Tousignant, Bastien, Hamel, and Hanigan (1986) to identify family problems; (b) the Sarason, Levine, Basham, and Sarason (1983) Social Support Questionnaire, translated and adapted by De Man (1986), which evaluates social support; (c) the Aneshensel, Clark, and Fredrichs test (1983) which indicates the presence or absence of depression; (d) the Sarason, Johnson, and Siegel (1978) Life Experience Survey, measuring the quantity of stressful events experienced, and their impact on personal life; and (e) Beck's (1979) Scale of Suicide Ideation which measures attitudes toward life and death. Two questions were added for the present study: Did you ever attempt suicide? If yes, how many times? Three hundred and fifty-five students answered the questionnaire, making the level of participation 71% (355/550). Participants were divided into four groups; those having made a suicidal attempt (n = 28) or planned suicide (n = 16), those having a score of 30 or more on the test relating to suicidal ideation (n = 18), and those regarded as “normal” (n = 278). The cut-off point of 30 on the scale of suicidal ideation was determined by averaging the scores of those who made a suicide attempt and confirmed by a discriminant analysis. The students who had attempted suicide had major family problems, lacked social support, presented depressive tendencies, and had experienced stressful events having a negative impact on their lives. Furthermore, they manifested problems in their attitudes toward life and death. However, the study did not determine the contribution of each variable. The participants who had planned suicide, at first sight, did not seem to present more problems than those designated “normal,” which seems astonishing. This was explained by the fact that the planned suicide was not recent or was a cry for help which found a response. Participants with a score of 30 or more on the test of suicidal ideation are considered at high risk because they present problems similar to those who have attempted suicide. Finally, as would be expected, no major problems were presented by the subjects classified as “normal.” The present study has attempted to describe the difficulties encountered by participants presenting problems, that is to say, those who have attempted or planned suicide; and to identify those who up to now, have not been considered at risk because they have never made an attempt, but who are experiencing difficulties and in certain cases, are veritable “time bombs waiting to go off.” Despite the fact that the participants did not constitute a representative sample of the Quebec population, the results confirm those obtained in previous studies identifying predisposing factors in suicide. The information gathered in the course of the present study has enabled us to implement preventive intervention at the Shawinigan Cégep.