NJSWE Paper

The rate of suicide attempts among undergraduate students has increased drastically in Nigeria. Thus, this study assessed the psychological factors (depression, stress, anxiety and hopelessness) as determinants of suicidal ideations among undergraduate students in Lagos State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted. A sample size of 396 respondents from the University of Lagos was randomly selected for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a self-developed questionnaire with a reliability co-efficiency of 0.753. Frequency distribution and percentage were used to analyze the data obtained from the respondents. A correlation analysis was conducted between variables of interest to determine the significant relationship that existed between the psychological factors and suicidal ideations using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), version 25.0. The set null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The set null hypotheses for depression (r= .542), stress (r= .682), hopelessness (r=.479), and anxiety (r=.672). The findings revealed that depression and hopelessness are factors predisposing to suicidal tendencies among undergraduate students. The study recommended that university administration should work with mental health professionals, to develop policies, procedures and programmes to identify and assist students who are not making an effective adjustment to the university milieu.