REFLECTION, ACADEMIC HARDINESS AND SUICIDAL IDEATION AMONG IN-SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN IBADAN, OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Background: Suicide is a serious and growing public health problem, and it remains a serious cause of death in the world today; therefore, it is essential to increase our knowledge concerning the etiology of suicidal ideation among adolescents. However, there are many factors of suicidal ideation among adolescents. An adolescent who doesn’t have family support is more likely to have negative hardiness in academics and become less productive. The study was aimed at the reflection, academic hardiness and suicidal ideation among in-school adolescents in Ibadan, Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey carried out in selected schools in Ibadan Southwest Nigeria. Four government schools were selected randomly from Ibadan north and Ibadan north-west local government. Consecutive recruitment of 400 participants was carried out at the selected schools. Becks Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to screen respondents for suicide. Ruminative Response Scale was used to screen reflection and Revised Academic Hardiness Scale was used to assess overall academic hardiness and the individual components of commitments, challenges, and control. Using SPSS version 23, percentage and frequency count was used to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents as well as the prevalence of emotional disorders in the study population. Chi-square test of association was used to investigate the association between the independent and categorical variables such as the categories on the BECKS, RSES and socio-demographic variables. Independent t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used in comparing the mean values of continuous variables such as the BECKS and RSES scores, as it relates to respondents’ categories on the RAH. The level of significance was set at 5%Results: Four hundred students were recruited into this study from the various selected schools. The mean age of the respondents was 15.6± 2.20 years while the majority were female (57.4%). The prevalence of suicide was 14.8% and more than one-fifth (21.4%) have lost morale for work. Four (5.9%) out of 68 of respondents less than 14 years had suicidal behaviour compared to 7.8% of respondents who were aged between 15-19 years and 255 of respondents aged greater than 20 years. (p=0.16). One out of 22(4.3%) respondents whose mothers had no formal education compared with 14 out of 147(8.7%) respondents whose mothers had a post-secondary level of education in the socio-demographic correlates of participants with and without suicidal behaviour: this difference was however not statistically significant (x²=1,75, p=0.67). One-third (32%) almost ever think of how passive and unmotivated they were. 67.4% respondents showed a positive association between reflection responses and suicide, although this fails to attain statistical significance (OR=1.03;p=0.17; CI=0.99-1.06). There is a negative association between academic hardiness and being depressed as participants who were depressed were 0.88 times as likely as to have higher academic hardiness(P=0.001; CI=0.81-0.95). Conclusion: This study reveals the adverse effects of reflection, academic hardiness and suicidal ideation on in-school adolescents. Association between academic hardiness and suicidal ideation is quite high. This study then identifies the need for CAMH training of health care providers and educational settings to ensure routine screening, identify academic hardiness and suicidal thoughts and attempts before is too late. Psychosocial support should be carried out in various schools, their roles as adolescents and school counselors need to be trained and be informed. Thus consideration should be given to adolescent well-being and awareness program