Citation

Nan J, Salina N, Chong ST, Jiang HJ. BMC Psychiatry 2023; 23(1): e90.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/s12888-023-04582-6

PMID

36747156

PMCID

PMC9900550

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to understand the longitudinal trajectory of suicidal ideation (SI) among Chinese medical students and the role of childhood trauma (CT).

METHODS: Using a whole-group sampling method, we assessed SI in 2192 (male = 834, female = 1358) medical students on three occasions over a period of one year. The Suicidal Ideation Self-Assessment Scale (SISAS) and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) were used to assess SI and CT. The growth mixture modeling (GMM) was used to classify the developmental trajectory of SI.

RESULTS: A greater number of medical students were experiencing suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The trajectory of SI among medical students was divided into two groups: a low risk, slowly rising group and a high risk, continuous group. The low risk, slowly rising group had a significant time effect (B = 1.57, p < 0.001) and showed a slowly increasing trend. Emotional neglect (EN), physical neglect (PN), emotional abuse (EA) and physical abuse (PA) all had significant positive predictive effects for the high risk, continuous group (B = 0.18-0.65, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION: The trajectory of SI among medical students can be divided into a low risk, slowly rising group and a high risk, continuous group; the more EN, PN, EA and PA experienced during childhood, the more likely medical students are to develop a high risk, continuous state of SI.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Female; Male; Suicidal Ideation; COVID-19; Surveys and Questionnaires; Pandemics; *Adverse Childhood Experiences; Childhood trauma; *COVID-19; *Students, Medical; GMM; Suicidal ideation