Campus Student Suicide Rates: Fact or Artifact?

Abstract

A review of all English‐language studies (14 foreign and 17 American) on campus student suicides was undertaken. Only studies reporting original data and containing sufficient demographic information to compute standard mortality rates (SMR) or crude suicide rates were analyzed and organized into single‐site studies. Only 4 single‐site studies had a higher suicide rate than the comparable populations. Multiple‐site collaborative studies done in the United States since 1960 strongly suggest a campus student suicide rate significantly less than in the matched control population. However, deficiencies in case finding, case definition, sampling bias, and statistical techniques may place these conclusions in doubt. The author outlines research methods that might be applied to future multiple‐site studies to resolve questions related to late adolescent and young adult suicidal behavior on campus and in other similar educational settings.