Investigating Psychosocial Predictors of Self-Harming Thoughts among Lagos State University Undergraduates During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Pre-COVID-19 pandemic, suicide, and suicidal behaviour were serious public health concerns that had a global influence on youth. However, there are concerns about the possible Pandemic-related factors contributing to self-harming thoughts and behaviours. At the same time, the antecedents of self-harm thought have been examined previously; this study aimed at exploring suicidal ideation –the preoccupation to kill oneself — among young adults who are prone to be affected by pandemic-related conditions. This Cross-sectional study investigated the role of sex, psychological distress, and social media addiction in predicting Self-harm thoughts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three hundred forty undergraduates cutting across the various faculties were conveniently selected from LASU to respond to the standardised questionnaire. It was hypothesised that male undergraduate students would be more susceptible to self-harm thoughts than female undergraduate students, and psychological distress and social media will have an independent and joint influence on Self-harm thoughts. The result revealed that there was a significant influence of sex on self-harm thoughts (t= 2.17; df (340); P <.05). Furthermore, male undergraduate students were more likely to have thoughts of self-harm than female undergraduate students. It was also revealed that psychological distress and social media addiction jointly (R2 = 0.89, F (2,339) = 16.56, p < .05) and independently predicted Self-harm thoughts. The findings suggested that Clinicians and counsellors, when assessing students with thoughts of self-harm, should consider finding out the extent of usage of social media and its addiction as it should be one of the important aspects to look out for during assessment. Additionally, University management should work on novel and practical approaches to detect early symptoms of psychological distress and advance suicide prevention efforts to secure the precious lives of Students