OBJECTIVES: Global evidence estimates indicate suicide to be the second leading cause of intentional deaths among tertiary students and the possible relationship between suicidal behavior and the mental health status of victims. Therefore this study aims to examine the relationship between depression and suicidal tendencies and identify the factors influencing this behavior among tertiary students in Ghana.

METHODS: A cross-sectional design was employed to collect data from 824 tertiary students in a public university in Ghana over 90 days using the Center of Epidemiology Scale of Depression(CESD-R) and the suicidal behavior questionnaire-revised(SBQ-R) to estimate depression and suicidal behavior prevalence among the students. Pearson correlation and multivariate logistics regression was employed to describe and predict the relationship between depression and the outcome and the factors influencing the outcome.

RESULTS: The majority of students were between the ages of 18-24 years(96.4%) and were equally distributed by sex. The overall clinical depression prevalence and suicidal behavior were estimated to be 25.2% and 26.4% respectively. Depression positively correlated with suicidal behavior (r= 0.18, p<0.001). The predictor of suicidal behavior were students with divorced parents [aOR = 2.53; 95% CI = 2.28-6.36], being in the first year [aOR = 3.82; 95% CI=1.03-7.12], international students [aOR = 3.13; 95% CI = 2.42-7.66], low self-esteemed students [aOR = 3.41; 95% CI = 1.76-6.63], having severe clinical depression symptoms [aOR = 3.47; 95% CI = 2.12-11.34], students from families with challenges [aOR = 1.48; 95% CI = 1.08-2.03], financial challenges [aOR = 2.89; 95% CI = 3.80-6.58], post-traumatic stressed students [aOR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.09-3.38], residing in mixed and male-only accommodation [aOR = 0.0.39; 95% CI = 0.19-0.75] and 58% [aOR = 0.42; 95% CI = 0.19-0.89].

CONCLUSIONS: Our study concludes that suicidal ideation was high among tertiary students and it was positively correlated with depression.