Academic stress and suicidal ideation: moderating roles of coping style and resilience

Suicide is multifarious and a major concern for public health [58, 74]. It is a diverse, less comprehensible, life-threatening phenomenon. This is because most victims of suicide hide or conceal their intentions [11, 25, 70], and this makes it difficult (if not impossible) for people to have knowledge of or even gain access to a potential suicide victim. As a result, WHO [73] noted that one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds despite progress in national prevention strategies. Consequently, it has become the second leading cause of death among youths. Snowdon and Choi [58] observed that reports of suicide are rare in children under the age of 10, but in the developed world, the prevalence begins to increase for youths between 10 and 14 years of age and in the 15 to 24 year age group [14]. Among their Nigeria counterparts, Adewuya and Oladipo [1] observed that the prevalence is 13–29 years, while the Nigeria National Youth Policy [43] discovered that the prevalence is in the 18–35 year age group. Due to cultural and developmental differences across individuals, there are inconsistencies as to the exact age at which suicidal ideation occurs. This could account for why scholars like [1, 4, 41] noted that evidence from 32 low and middle-income countries in sub-Sahara Africa have high suicide rates among adolescents and young people in general (without reference to a particular age bracket). Uganda, Botswana, Kenya, Zambia, and Nigeria have high prevalence of suicidal ideation among young people [55]. These youths within “transitory-into-productive” age(s), are seen to be moving from tertiary institutions into the uncertain world of labor markets in the developing (and in some western) worlds. Besides, suicide seems to have had multiple underlying causes [9, 67], and therefore requires adopting multiple investigative approach. Hence, our study investigated the moderating impacts of coping and resilience on academic stress and suicidal ideation among students.

Stresses associated with completing tertiary education, as well as concerns about unemployment, poverty, destitution, economic crises, feelings of insecurity, marginalization (including biases), and economic disempowerment [8, 34, 44], are as prevalent in society as the need for adequate coping knowledge [8, 34, 44]. Failure to adequately cope greatly increases the chances of severing youths from the traditional values and moral regulations that seemed to have earlier provided moral foundation and guide, leading to thoughts of suicide. This could account for scholars’ reports (e.g. [27, 36]) that suicidal thoughts are more common among younger age groups.

Stress is no longer new to people as it has permeated every aspect of humanity. Hence, the present study would emphasize academic stress. Undergraduateship is not devoid of challenges and stressful circumstances. These circumstances are not limited to adapting to a new academic environment, academic workload, academic performance, attending to lectures, overwork, future employment [22, 49], nor social and financial stresses [19]. Whether these stressors are short-term or long-term, they have significant impact on undergraduates’ coping (either adaptive or maladaptive) capacity [19]. Productive (adaptive) coping protects students from suicide and suicidal ideation [10, 18]; whereas ineffective/dysfunctional (maladaptive) coping skills among students experiencing persistent academic stress and negative emotions trigger higher risk of suicide. The relationship between academic stress and suicidal ideation has been well documented in literature (e.g [31, 48, 66]). Generally, the role of stressful life events in suicidal ideation, attempts, and completion has been a key area of study in the epidemiology of mental disorders [35, 69]. There is a need to understand the moderating roles of some factors in the observed association [45] between academic stress and suicidal ideation in a bid to advance research knowledge on suicide, intervention, and treatment. This is an important contribution that the current study offers to the body of knowledge. Since stress has been implicated in suicide [31, 48], with no drugs for identified victims of suicidal ideation, coping is very germane.

Lambert and Lambert [38] noted that coping is a conscious effort to reduce stress, and entailing masterful ways of tolerating, reducing, or minimizing stressful events. The conceptualization and categorization of different coping styles is inconsistent in literature (cf. [57]). Notwithstanding divergent opinions on conceptions of coping, coping has colossal impacts on stress (academic not exempted) and suicidal ideation. For instance, behavioural disengagement and self-blame increase suicidal vulnerability [30], deficient coping and problem solving skills heighten suicidal ideation [59, 62], passive coping (usually fantasizing) fosters suicidal ideation [75], while ineffective coping skills and negative emotions trigger higher risk of suicide [15]. Coping skills such as active coping and positive reframing were negatively associated with suicide, whereas coping skills like self-distraction, substance abuse, behavioural disengagement, venting, and self-blame were positively associated with suicide (e.g. [39]).

Besides these direct associations, psychopathological factors, including depression [68], hopelessness [21], and psychological distress [63], have been tested as mediators between life stress and suicidal ideation, with fewer research enquiries involving resilience. Resilience is an individual’s tendency to bounce back to a previous state of normal functioning, or simply not showing negative effects after stress and adversity. Wagnild [71] noted that resilience is an ability to recover from stress. As a helpful behavioural disposition, it promotes an individual’s healthy survival and soothes the negative outcome of stress. Resilience is important as it ensures healthy social functioning, morale, and somatic health, as well as helps an individual maintain emotional stability in the midst of stress [64]. Hence, understanding resilience appears to provide homeostasis [51] and personal endurance [33]. A study [40] on the relationship between resilience and well-being associated resilience with a positive view of the self. Cleverly and Kidd [16] found youths’ perceived resilience related to less suicidal ideation, whereas higher psychological distress was associated with higher suicidal ideation. Furthermore, depression has been linked to suicidal ideation, with anxiety, mental health, resiliency, and daily stress playing important roles [32]. Again, resilience dimensions such as social resources and familial cohesion were strongly and negatively correlated with humiliation, interpersonal sensitivity, and depression in subjects with previous suicidal attempts [52].

To our knowledge, no study has combined coping and resilience as moderators of the relationship between academic stress and suicidal ideation. Rather, extant related literature have either focused on stress (not academic stress) and suicidal ideation [17, 20] or coping and suicidal ideation [10]. Although Zimmerman [76] provided useful theoretical explanations and understandings as to how some ‘promotive factors’ could interrupt the pathways to mental health difficulties among youths, we believe it is necessary to investigate as many of these promotive factors (including coping and resilience) as possible with respect to suicidal ideation. The present study might support as well as enhance, and further the theoretical explanations of Zimmerman [76]. However, it is important to note that some studies have investigated coping as a moderator in relationship of stress (but not necessarily academic stress) and suicidal ideation (e.g. [17, 20, 68]). We assume that coping styles will have moderating impact on suicidal ideation and academic stress among undergraduates, especially for those who adopt functional or adaptive coping styles, compared to those who do not. In the same vein, we equally propose that resilience will moderate the link between academic stress and suicidal ideation. When confronted with the aforementioned potential stressors, a student who is stressed but adopts dysfunctional or ineffective coping styles (blaming oneself for problems, ignoring them, or escaping through fantasizing thoughts) may likely consider suicide as an option to end the perturbation [26]. Those who use effective or functional strategies (positive reevaluation, planning, and seeking help) are less likely to consider suicide [39]. In other words, coping could either increase or decrease the effect of academic stress on suicidal ideation, whereas resilience helps them bounce back after having adaptively coped with academic stress. Therefore, we hypothesized first, that academic stress would predict suicidal ideation; second, while adaptive coping style would not predict suicidal ideation, maladaptive coping style would; third, adaptive coping style would moderate the association between academic stress and suicidal ideation such that at low or moderate levels of adaptive coping styles, academic stress would be positively associated with suicidal ideation; but at high levels of adaptive coping style, the relationship of academic stress and suicidal ideation would not be significant. Finally, resilience would negatively predict suicidal ideation [54] as well as moderate the association between academic stress and suicidal ideation, such that academic stress would show a positive association with suicidal ideation for students at low and moderate levels of resilience, but for those with high resilience, academic stress would not be associated with suicidal ideation.

In comparison with most western societies, single studies on the moderating roles of coping, resilience on academic stress and suicidal ideation in a Nigerian sample are very rare. Also, studies with Nigerian (and perhaps other) samples have rather dominated the areas of protective and risk factors for suicidal behaviour and ideation (e.g. [1, 2, 46, 53]). Our study is relevant because it advances the knowledge quest for preventive and management approaches for students and school administrators who may struggle to successfully navigate academic-related stress without deteriorating to suicidal ideation.

The understanding that suicidal ideation may decrease among undergraduates because of adaptive or functional coping skills; and that students who practice functional coping skills may suppress the negative experiences, anxiety, and psychological distress that emanate due to academic stress, is very crucial in proposing and inculcating a positive academic survival approach. This outcome could equally be transferred into other domains of students’ lives even after school. It is also essential to policymakers, educational administrators, parents, students, and society at large as no one is exempted from the scorching heat of rampant suicide among undergraduates- a generational transitory population. Therefore, the study encourages stakeholders to teach and practice adaptive coping skills as well as resilient techniques whose ripple effects not only reduce suicidal ideation but also help in healthy living.

From the results of the brief descriptive statistics (Table 1) performed on the demographics like age, marital status, and religion, the ages of the participants ranged from 18 to 32 years, with a mean age of 25 years and a standard deviation of .45. A total of 492 (97.4%) were single, while 7 (1.4%) were married. The number of Christians in the sample was 486 (96.2%), traditional 17 (3.4%), and Islam 2 (.4%). Age, marital status, religion, etc., that have been either positively or negatively implicated in suicidal ideation [1, 4], were included in the preliminary stage of the analysis. Inclusion criteria included full-time registered, non-working class undergraduate students of federal universities under study, while exclusion criteria included working class and postgraduate students who were known to be registered students of federal universities under study.

Results in Table 2 showed that suicidal ideation had a positive association with marital status (r = .08, p.05) but did not correlate with gender, age, or ethnic group. Academic stress (r = .17; p.001) was found to be positively related to suicidal ideation, whereas resilience (r = −.22; p.001) was found to be negatively related to suicidal ideation. Gender, age, and ethnic group that did not correlate with suicidal ideation were excluded from the analysis, and marital status, which correlated with suicidal ideation, was controlled in the subsequent moderation analysis. Suicidal ideation had no significant relationship with adaptive coping style (r = −.02), but it did have a significant relationship with maladaptive coping (r = .15; p.001).

Table 3 indicates that subscales of coping were correlated with suicidal ideation. The separation of B-COPE into adaptive and maladaptive styles was done after the various dimensions of adaptive and maladaptive coping styles were correlated with suicidal ideation as shown in Table 3. Subsequently, strategies that negatively correlated (active, planning, positive refraining, acceptance, religion, and emotional support) with suicidal ideation were indicated as protective or adaptive and were summed together, while strategies that positively correlated (humour, instrumental support, self-distraction, denial, venting, behavioural disengagement, self-blame, and substance use) with suicidal ideation were maladaptive and summed together. This categorization is in line with extant literature (e.g. [5, 47]), which specifically suggested and categorized substance use (such as alcohol) as a maladaptive coping style because it impairs judgment and disinhibits impulses, and as such, users of such substances are more likely to harm themselves or die by suicide.

Results in Table 4 showed that Step 1, which involved only the demographic variable (marital status), revealed no significant result. R = 08, (R2 = .01), F(1, 503) = 2.93. Step 2 yielded a significant result: R = .19, (R² = .04), F (1, 502) = 16.18, p = .01. The results showed that the addition of academic stress accounted for an additional 3 % of significant variance in suicidal ideation. ΔR2 = .03, F (1, 502) = 16.18, p = .01. However, Step 3 did not yield any additional significant results. ΔR² = .04, (R² = .06, F (1, 501) = .09. Step 4 produced a significant overall model, with R = .22, (R² = .05), F (1, 500) = 5.44, p = .00. This means that the inclusion of a maladaptive coping style accounted for 1% of the significant variance in suicidal ideation, R2 = .01, F (1, 500) = 5.44, p = .00. And finally, Step 5 yielded a significant result, R = .29, (R² = .08), F (1, 499) = 19.94, p = .00. Furthermore, the inclusion of resilience accounted for an additional 4% variance in suicidal ideation, R2 = .04, F (1, 499) = 19.94, p = .00.

Results in Table 4 indicated that marital status, which was initially correlated with suicidal ideation, failed to predict suicidal ideation. However, academic stress was a significant predictor of suicidal ideation. At low (B = .12, t = 4.40, p < .001) and moderate (B = .02, t = 3.19, p < .01) levels of adaptive coping style, academic stress was positively associated with suicidal ideation, but the association between academic stress and suicidal ideation was not significant at high levels of adaptive coping style (B = .03, t = 1.41, p < .16), (Fig. 1). Suicidal ideation, on the other hand, was negatively predicted by resilience (B = −.07, SE = .02, p.001). However, academic stress was positively associated with suicidal ideation at low (B = .12, t = 3.93, p < .001) and moderate (B = .06, t = 2.91, p < .01) levels of resilience; but for those students with high resilience, academic stress was not associated with suicidal ideation (B = .03, t = 1.08, p < .281), (Fig. 2). To avoid potentially problematic high multi-collinearity with the interaction terms, the variables were centered and an interaction term between adaptive coping style and suicidal ideation as well as the interaction between resilience and suicidal ideation were created [3]. Examination of the interaction plots is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

Our hypothesis that academic stress would significantly predict suicidal ideation was confirmed, and this finding is consistent with extant studies [10, 18, 39]. Other literature (e.g [31, 48, 66]) have also documented the significant relationship between academic stress and suicidal ideation. In line with our goal of examining the moderating roles of coping styles in furthering research knowledge about suicide, intervention, and treatment, we found that adequate coping with academic stressors was key to avoiding suicidal ideation among students. This finding is very important as educational administrators and policy makers should incorporate courses and teachings of effective coping skills into their programs, especially for young students since stressors are inherent in the lives of undergraduate students, especially in our society and at this perilous time.

Stressors have become so prevalent in undergraduate education [19, 22, 49] that adequate coping skills have become a panacea to the likelihood of impending suicidal ideation [31, 48]. We found that adaptive coping styles did not significantly predict suicidal ideation, but moderated the relationship such that low or moderate coping with academic stress would most likely lead to suicidal ideation. Students are mostly confronted with the challenges of adapting to a new academic environment, academic workload, academic performance, attending to lectures, overwork, or thoughts of future employment after graduation [22, 49], and most seriously, social, emotional, and financial stress [19]. This is also in consonance with worries about unemployment rates, poverty and destitution, economic crises, feelings of insecurity, marginalization, and economic disempowerment [8, 44] that dominate our society today. It is made even worse when the student(s) loses their guardian/parents/sibling who pays their academic bills, or when the guardian/parents/sibling suffers a misfortune that renders him/her almost destitute.

Resilient students have the ability to recover from stress [71], but not without adequate coping strategies. Our study found that resilience was positively associated with academic stress and negatively predicted suicidal ideation. Thus, the hypothesis which stated that resilience would moderate the relationship between academic stress and suicidal ideation was confirmed. This simply means that those who cope well with academic stress have a better chance of bouncing back than those who do not, and they are less likely to consider suicide. In line with our findings, Tugade et al. [64] noted that resilient people have much more adaptive behaviours, particularly in the areas of social functioning, morale, and somatic health, and such people equally experience positive emotions amidst stress; given that moral and social functioning are anti-suicidal tonics. The resiliency theory proposed by Richardson [51] explains that qualities of resilience such as optimism, hopefulness, and meaningful engagement ensure higher immune levels than helplessness, hopelessness, and depression (which are precursors of suicide). Therefore, resilience promotes succor and adequate coping under threats of various academic stressors.

Our findings can be explained by Aaron Anthonovsky’s Salutogenic Model of Resilience. In its explanations of resilience, the salutogenic model ignores the whole notion of risk exposure as a prerequisite for being labelled “resilient” and instead places the emphasis on factors that contribute to health and wellbeing. The salutogenic model specifically focuses on factors that help identify coping resources that may contribute to resilience and effective adjustment, notwithstanding adversity and risk [60]. It is adequate coping skills that make resilient students able to quickly regain a sense of balance that keeps them going despite academic difficulty and trouble, and equally makes them find meaning amidst academic confusion and turmoil. Resilient students are self-confident and understand their own strengths and abilities. They do not feel a pressure to conform but take pleasure in being unique. Extant literature have documented the relationships between resilience and well-being [40]. Perceived resilience was associated with less suicidal ideation whereas higher psychological distress was associated with higher suicidal ideation [16], depression, anxiety, mental health, resiliency, and daily stresses had been linked to suicidal ideations and are noted to play significant role in suicidal ideation [32]. To our knowledge, it seems that no study had particularly evaluated the moderation of coping and resilience on the path of academic stress and suicidal ideation. Hence, our study becomes an interesting read for students, educational administrators, and some other non-governmental suicidal organizations.

Our study is not without limitations. For instance, the small sample size of our study may not have been large enough to account for generalizations across cultures. In the same vein, university differences in terms of courses offered, and socioeconomic status, which definitely would have ensured a more homogenous population, were not factored in the sampling process. Subsequent studies should consider such university differences and capture course types that might impact on academic stress and suicidality. Again, as a cross-sectional study, our data do not allow for full inferences about causal directionality. As a self-report measure was adopted in the study, there is the possibility of response biases as participants may either have made socially acceptable answers rather than being truthful or were unable to accurately assess themselves; all these threaten the reliability and validity of the measurement. Equally, tools employed in this study, like the Lakaev Academic Stress Response Scale, Scale for Suicidal Ideation, Brief COPE, and Resilience Scale, cannot be viewed as diagnostic tools, but only as screening tests to identify members of groups at risk for these conditions. The results arising from these tools tell us how the students perceive their health but are not in themselves evidence of medical concerns. Therefore, future studies should consider making more directional inferences, perhaps from a more controlled experimental investigation as well as cross cultural variances in suicidal ideation. We did not also take into account several ways people ideate about suicide (e.g., active ideation with plans, thoughts of suicide, and urges) as noted by Rizvi and Fitzpatrick [56]. There is a likelihood that the frequency, duration, intensity, and future possibility of these ways of ideating suicide could have been propagated by the academic environment and that most students at different times have the urges and thoughts (with or without) active plans. This area should be explored further. Finally, selection bias could undermine the internal validity of the study. However, the use of this approach might not have a significant impact on the outcome of this study. Nonetheless, this can only be ascertained when further studies are conducted while taking into consideration the issues raised. We acknowledge this as a limitation of the sampling technique adopted and advise the exercise of caution in making generalizations from these findings.

Based on the limitations stated above, it is recommended that future studies ensure adequate representativeness, increased homogeneity, etc. in order to foster generalizations of the findings.

Resilient students having the ability to recover from stress are only possible with adequate coping strategies even as resilience positively associated with academic stress and negatively predicted suicidal ideation. Our findings affirm the research trend that academic stress is associated with suicidal ideation, with resilient students able to bounce back from academic challenges. Good coping strategies also enable resilient students recover from stress, consequently reducing their likelihood to ideate about suicide. Our students must adopt positive coping strategies towards solving their academic problems and learn persistence in the midst of threatening academic situations.

Our findings contribute to the growing evidence that adequate coping with academic stressors and resilient skills are keys to avoiding suicidal ideation among young students. Resilient students with adequate coping strategies find it easier to recover from stress even as resilience is positively associated with academic stress and negatively predicted suicidal ideation. This simply indicates that those who cope well with academic stress have more chances of bouncing back than others who do not, and may not likely ideate about suicide.