| dc.description.abstract | According to the 2017 Center for Disease C ontrol (CDC) report, suicide is the second
leading cause of death for ages ten to twenty-four globally. More teenagers and young
adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart diseases, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia,
influenza and chronic lung diseases combined. The purpose of the study therefore was to
assess the influence of selected psychosocial factors on suicidal ideation among students
in public secondary school in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to; to determine
the influence of mental health, birth order and bullying on suicidal ideation among
students in public secondary schools in Kenya and to investigate the role of schools in
mitigating the problem of suicidal ideation among students in public secondary schools
in Kenya. The study, which was anchored on the Interpersonal Psychological Theory,
adopted ex-post facto and snowball research designs. The study population consisted of
2564 form four students, 30 teachers in charge of guidance and counseling, 30 deputy
principals from 30 public secondary schools in Butere Sub- County and one Sub- County
Director of Education. The sample comprised of 176 boys and 170 girls who were
selected using stratified random sampling, 10 guidance and counseling teachers, 10
deputy principals and 1 Sub- County director of education who were respectively
sampled purposively. Data from the students were collected using questionnaires, while
that from the deputy principals, guidance and counseling teachers and the Sub- County
Director of Education were each collected using interview guide. Document analysis was
also conducted to corroborate information collected from the respondents. Reliability of
the instruments was established using split-half method. Qualitative data was analyzed
thematically while quantitative data was analyzed using inferential statistics on SPSS
version 25. The hypotheses were tested using simple regression. Study findings revealed
that the correlation coefficient was r=0.751 with p<0.000 being statistically significant.
This led to rejecting the null hypothesis given that the value of R was more than 0. From
the findings, the coefficient of determination (R2) indicated that 56.4% of the variance in
suicidal ideation, in the students was attributed to mental health. Study findings revealed
that the correlation coefficient was r=0.548 with p<0.000 being statistically significant.
From the findings, the coefficient of determination (R2) indicated that 30.1% of the
variance in suicidal ideation, in the students was attributed to birth order. Simple
regression was used to establish the relationship between bullying and suicidal ideation.
Study findings showed an R value of 0.781. This implied that there was a statistically
significant positive relationship between bullying and suicidal ideation. Further the study
revealed that the coefficient of determination (R2) indicated that 61% of the variance in
suicidal ideation, in the students was attributed to bullying. This implied that bullying
explained the suicidal ideation given that the F- test was over 0.5 and significant. In the
model, the p-value is significant (p<0.001) implying that increase in bullying increases
the chances of suicidal ideation. The study showed an R value of 0.616. This implied that
there was a statistically significant positive relationship between the role played by
schools and suicidal ideation. Further the study revealed that the coefficient of
determination (R2) indicated that 37.9% of the variance in suicidal ideation, in the
students was attributed to the role played by the school. This implied that the role played
by the school explained the suicidal ideation given that the F- test was over 0.5 and
significant. In the model, the p-value is significant (p<0.001) implying that role played
by the school reduces the chances of suicidal ideation given beta value was negative. The
study concluded that mental health and suicidal ideation are negatively related. Good
mental health reduces the chances for suicidal ideation. | en_US |
