Suicidal idea in students of the final series of fundamental education and middle school: prevalence and associated variables

Suicide is reported as one of the leading causes of death in young and middle-aged individuals and is therefore considered a public health problem. This study aimed to measure the prevalence of suicidal intention in students of the final grade of elementary and high school in a public school. The sample consisted of 337 students from the final grades of elementary and high school. The students answered a questionnaire containing the Suicidal Ideation Scale. Data collection was done in classrooms of the public school evaluated. The statistical procedures had descriptive analysis, through relative and absolute frequencies. The magnitude of the association of the variables was evaluated by the crude and adjusted prevalence ratio (RP), according to the Poisson model with robust variance. The results showed that 78% of the students are below average on the cognitive content of thoughts related to death in general, and yet 22% of this sample is above average. After the adjustment of the model, the significant associations were: male sex (RP= 0.48) and not religious (RP = 2.56). It was concluded that the factors associated with the suicidal ideation of adolescents were female and not religious.