Suicide behavior and depression in university student psychiatric referrals

Two hundred and sixty four university students who were referred consecutively for psychiatric examination were evaluated by the author using a detailed, precoded questionnaire based on the Feighner et al., diagnostic criteria for psychiatric research. Histories including suicide behavior and affective symptoms were recorded. Four measures of suicide behavior: thoughts, wishes, threats, and attempts were all associated with the presence of affective disorders, but did not significantly in their association with specific affective disorders. Suicide attempts were more frequent than threats and did, in some cases, occur without the communication of suicide intent.