Study On The Status And Influential Factors Of Mental Health And Suicidal Ideation Among The Freshmen Of A Medical University

Objective To understand the mental health status and prevalence for suicidal ideation and the related influencing factors among freshmen in a medical university, in order to promote the psychological health of freshmen and provide the scientific evidence for suicide intervention.Methods 2545 freshmen in medical university were surveyed. Data were collected by University Personality Inventory (UPI), suicidal ideation questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Impulsiveness Scale and the questionnaire about background information. Then the data was analyzed by Univariate analysis, Multivariate Logistic regression analysis and path analysis in order to explore relative influential factors..Results The results for survey of UPI showed that the prevalence rates of the Mental Problem of First Type and Second Type were 5.9% and 24.6%, respectively. 30.5% of freshmen had mental problems of the different levels, which were focused on the tendency of obsessive-compulsive disorder, emotional problems and lack of confidence. And 12.0% of freshmen had suicidal ideation, which the most important reasons were physical illness and family quarrel. What's more, there were 31.8% of freshmen have depression status of the different levels.There was statistical significance between the genders, the economic status, the complete family structure or not , the satisfaction to profession or not and social support (p < 0.05 ) . The results of the multivariable analysis showed that complete family structure and the social support were the protective factors, and the poor family economic condition was risk factor. There was statistical significance between the genders, satisfaction to profession or not, in a love affair or not and social support (p< 0.05) . According to UPI, the higher were the scores of UPI, the higher prevalence for suicidal ideation. The freshmen who had the suicidal ideation have more severe depression and anxiety, and also had high scores in IMP. The results of the multivariable analysis showed that depression, anxiety and impulsive personality were the risk factors of the mental health; meanwhile, complete family structure and the social support were the protective factors.The results of path analysis showed that depression and anxiety had the direct effect on psychological health. Depression and anxiety had the largest direct effect on suicidal ideation, while the social support had indirect effect on suicidal ideation.Conclusion The mental health status of the freshmen should not be ignored, especially the person who have suicidal ideation and multiple mental problems. And it is necessary to not only adopt the psychological counseling and treatment for the freshmen, but also pay attention to mental health education in order to improve mental health status of students.