ABSTRACT
The study examined parental role, academic stress and suicidal ideation among students in public tertiary institutions in Delta North Senatorial District. The survey research design using correlational approach was adopted.
The population of the study consists of 7,874 students. A sample of 309 students was randomly selected using multistage sampling procedure. Parental Role, Academic Stress and Suicidal Ideation Survey Scale were adapted as instrument for the study. The questionnaire was divided into four sections (Section A for Demographic data, Section B for parental Role, Section C for Academic Stress and Section D for Suicidal Ideation). The instrument was validated by three experts in Measurement and Evaluation with a reliability coefficient of .711 obtained for parental role, .802 for academic stress and .724 for suicidal ideation using Cronbach Alpha statistics. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive Statistics (Mean and Standard Deviation), Linear Regression and Fishers Z. Hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
The finding of the study revealed low prevalence of suicidal ideation among 300 level and 400 level students, both parental role and academic Stress predicted suicidal ideation among students. Findings also revealed no relationship between parental role, academic stress, and suicidal ideation by sex and age respectively among students in public tertiary institutions in Delta North Senatorial District. Based on these findings, the following recommendations have been suggested that; the provision of adequate counselling centers and trained counselors in all tertiary institutions in Nigeria who will be able to handle likely challenges faced by students should be addressed; parents should be encouraged to foster good parents/child or children relationship so as to be able to detect when things go wrong in the lives of their ward(s); regular seminars, workshops and campaigns should be organized for students in tertiary institutions so as to create awareness on the stigma caused by suicide.
