DEPRESSION, EMOTIONAL ADJUSTMENT AND SUICIDAL IDEATION AMONG STUDENTS IN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS, KWARA STATE NIGERIA

Abstract

Depression, Emotional adjustment and suicidal ideation has become common phenomenon among students in higher 
institutions in kwara state. The study examined depression, Emotional adjustment and suicidal ideation among 
students in higher institutions in Kwara State, descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The 
population of the study comprised of all the final year students of faculty of Education in three (3) universities in 
kwara State i.e. university of Ilorin, Kwara state university and Al hikmah university. The sample size was 357 
students randomly selected from the three universities. Three instruments were used for this study, namely 
questionnaire items on depression, (QIOD)Questionnaire items on Emotional adjustment (QIOEA) and 
questionnaire items on suicidal ideation. Face and content validity was done by experts in the field of special 
education. Test retest method of reliability was adopted to determine the reliability index which were: (r=.0.81) and 
(r=.80) respectively.  The hypotheses were tested using inferential statistics of  pearson product moment correlation 
at 0.05 level of significance. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that there was significant 
relationship between depression and suicidal ideation among students in higher institutions in Kwara State, there 
exists significant relationship between emotional Adjustment and suicidal ideation among students in higher 
institutions in Kwara State. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that Students should be 
adequately and academically prepared for the institution tasks in order to avoid any form of depression that may lead 
them to suicidal ideation, Students should develop Adjustment strategies to cope Academically, emotionally and 
socially to avoid depression and prevent suicidal ideation.