A study on the influence of hunger and alcohol consumption on suicidal tendencies among Filipino high school students
Date
2016-01
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Abstract
Suicide and mental health are among the pressing issues that different nations from
around the globe are trying to address. A previous time trend study in the Philippines found
that the younger age groups, especially females, are not only susceptible to suicides, but
also to non-fatal self-harming and failed suicide attempts. While it is no surprise that people
suffering from depression are at most risk of committing suicide, existing literatures from
other countries have linked alcohol consumption and experiencing hunger to suicidal
behavior. Hence, our paper aims to examine how these factors could influence high school
students in the Philippines into exhibiting suicidal behavior. Our paper found that although
experiencing hunger is not a very strong predictor for whether a student will seriously
consider suicide, it is a strong predictor for actual suicide attempts. Alcohol consumption,
on the other hand, has a positive relationship with both suicidal thoughts and actual
attempts. Our paper also found that increasing frequency of both experiencing hunger and
consuming alcohol could increase the probability that the student will attempt suicide. In
addition, females have higher likelihood of exhibiting suicidal behavior than males
regardless of levels of hunger and alcohol consumption.
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Keywords
suicidal behavior, hunger, alcohol consumption, high school students, Philippines