The Association Between Suicidal Ideation, Personality Traits, and Stress Hormones in Final-Year Medical Students

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychiatry
• Endocrinology

Background:

• Medical students are a vulnerable population for mental health issues.
• Suicidal ideation is a serious concern within this demographic.
• Understanding the interplay of personality and stress hormones is crucial for risk assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between suicide risk, personality traits, and stress hormone levels in final-year medical students.
• To identify specific personality profiles associated with increased suicide risk.
• To investigate the role of stress-related hormones in medical student suicidality.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving 80 final-year medical students at Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine.
• Participants completed the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.
• Venous blood samples were collected for hormone level analysis.

Main Results:

• 20% of participants reported suicidal thoughts; 1.3% had a previous suicide attempt.
• Higher SPS scores were linked to psychiatric disorders and suicidal ideation.
• Suicidal ideation correlated with lower extraversion and higher neuroticism scores.
• Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels showed a weak positive correlation with SPS scores.

Conclusions:

• A significant proportion of medical students experience suicidal thoughts, highlighting a critical need for support.
• Personality traits, specifically higher neuroticism and lower extraversion, are associated with suicidal ideation.
• While stress hormone levels like ACTH did not significantly differ, a weak correlation with suicide risk warrants further investigation.
• Medical students require ongoing monitoring and robust psychiatric, social, and medical support systems to mitigate suicide risk.