The effect of religiosity, socio-economic status change and social support on suicidal ideation among high school female students in Boyer-Ahmad city

Suicide is a major health and psychosocial problem in the contemporary world. The current study aimed to investigate the social factors affecting the tendency towards suicide among female high school students in the city of Boyer-Ahmad.

In this quantitative study data were collected following a survey technique and using a questionnaire. The study population was all female high school students in Boyer-Ahmad city. The sample size was estimated at 373, based on the Lin table, with a 95% confidence interval and 5% sampling error. Sampling was performed using a two-stage cluster sampling technique.

There was a negative association between suicidal ideation and all five dimensions of religiosity. There was a positive significant association between the rate of change in socioeconomic status and the rate of suicidal ideation, as well as a negative association between the rate of social support and the rate of suicidal ideation. Academic failure, parental divorce experience, and sexual abuse experience could also influence suicidal ideation. Overall, these factors could explain 1.44% of the changes in the dependent variable (i.e. suicidal tendency). Besides, 9.55% of the remaining variance was explained by factors other than the variables included in this study.

The social context has a key and effective role in the present time, and the necessary conditions for its improvement should be provided.