Gender differences in suicide ideation among college students in Kuwait

Abstract

IntroductionThe Beck Scale for Suicide ideation (BSS) has consistently been regarded as a strong tool for measuring cognitive and somatic aspects of suicide ideation symptomatology in both clinical and non-clinical population. There is no study until this date that examines the BSS within Kuwaiti College students.ObjectiveThe present study aims at identifying impact of gender (male/female) on suicide ideation.MethodsThe sample was consisted of (584) undergraduates students (284 of males and 300 females). The study applies Beck Scale for Suicide ideation (BSS) and suicide Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ).ResultsTable 1 descriptive statistics for two standardized self-report measures means and standard deviations for these measures were within the expected ranges for college samples. The mean (BSS) score was 5.2 for males and 7.0 for females. The mean (SIQ) score was 11.3 for males and 13.7 for females.ConclusionBSS revealed significant gender differences in score indicated that females obtained higher scores than males on suicide Ideation although the magnitude of the difference was small.Table not available.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.