Victimization and suicidality among female college students.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the predictive role of victimization in suicidality among college women.

PARTICIPANTS

Female respondents to the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment II (N = 258).

METHODS

Multivariate logistic regression analyses examined the relationship between victimization and suicidality.

RESULTS

Emotional victimization (odds ratio [OR] = 11.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.43, 57.19, p < .01), physical victimization (OR = 6.10, 95% CI = 1.49, 25.08, p < .05), and sexual victimization (OR = 7.53, 95% CI = 2.06, 27.50, p < .01) were all significantly associated with an increased odds of suicidality even after considering the role of depression, anxiety, and stress.

CONCLUSIONS

Victimization is a significant and independent predictor of suicidality among college women. Controlling for relevant psychological health-related variables, college women who reported any of the 3 types of victimization had more than 8 times the odds of suicidality compared with nonvictims.