College and University Student Suicide

Abstract

Suicide among college and university students is unquestionably an important issue on the nation's college campuses. This is true not only because of the frequency of suicidal attempts/completions, but also because of the severe trauma often precipitated by suicide. Although there are numerous writings discussing the general phenomenon of suicide -and in particular child and adolescent suicide -less has been written concerning suicidal trends specifically among college students. Thus the purpose of this article will be to summarize the prominent literature in the area of college student suicide, provide a critical review, identify relevant themes, and discuss future directions.