Factors Associated with Suicidal Ideation in Last-course High School Students Facing the University Entrance Test in Spain

Abstract

Suicidal ideation has been associated in different studies with emotional disturbances, including anxiety, depressive symptoms and burnout. At the moment, there are not many studies that have explored this association in students who face the university entrance examination in Spain. In this research, our main objective was to explore the association between positive suicidal ideation and anxiety, depressive symptoms and burnout in students who were taking these tests. The study involved 402 last-course high school students who were taking the assessment tests in Granada (Spain), aged between 17 and 24. All of them answered to a survey containing sociodemographic variables, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Zung’s Self-Rating Depression Scale, the one-dimensional scale of Student Burnout and the Positive and Negative Suicidal Ideation Inventory. The results obtained indicate a clear and sig-nificant correlation between positive suicidal ideation, anxiety, depressive symptoms and burnout. Of these three variables, the one that best predicts the presence of suicidal ideation is depressive symptoms. Knowing the presence of emotional disturbances and dysfunctional states in these students is important in preventing and intervening in this ideation in students.