Domestic violence and risk of suicidal behavior among university students

Objective. To estimate the degree of association between domestic violence physical, verbal or sexual with suicidal behavior among university students. Material and Methods. A matched case-control study was done with students attending the University of Colima, Mexico. The cases were 235 teenagers who presented both suicidal ideation and suicide attempt; the controls were 470 individuals of the same age and sex. Results. Sexual abuse showed the highest degree of association with suicidal behavior (OR=27.4), followed by verbal violence (OR=9.28), drug use (OR=8.6), physical violence (OR=5.5) and smoking (OR=3.6). Multivariate logistic regression showed that verbal violence was associated with suicidal behavior independently of the other variables, while physical violence, sexual abuse, smoking and drug use seem to depend on verbal violence. Conclusions. Domestic violence, particularly verbal or sexual, is strongly associated with suicidal behavior in adolescents and should be considered in suicide prevention programs.