Suicide ideation among US college students - Associations with other injury risk behaviors

Suicide, the endpoint of a continuum that begins with suicide ideation, is the third leading cause of death among the US college-aged population. The first and second leading causes of death among this age group, unintentiona l injury and homicide, may also be linked to suicide ideation. We used data from the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey to examine the assoc iation between suicide ideation and injury-related behaviors among 18- to 2 4-year-old college students. Students who reported suicide ideation were si gnificantly more likely than students who did not report considering suicid e to carry a weapon, engage in a physical fight, boat or swim after drinkin g alcohol, ride with a driver who had been drinking alcohol, drive after dr inking alcohol, and rarely or never used seat belts. Given this clustering of injury-related risk behaviors;college prevention programs should aim to reduce risks for injuries comprehensively, rather than addressing each risk behavior separately.