suicidal thought and behaviors among junior and senior medical students

Background: youth suicide is a major public health concern. suicide statistics show an increase in the suicide rates among young students including medical students. to explore self-harming behavior among medical students at yazd azad university. methods: suicidal ideation in medical students studying at yazd azad university was explored within a descriptive cross-sectional study design. stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 200 students. for comparison purposes, the sample was divided into two groups of seniors (student intake from 2013/14), and juniors (student intake from 2017/18). beck suicide scale was used to measure suicidal behavior. results: we found 16% of the participants exhibited suicidal ideation, of whom 87.5% demonstrated a low desire to commit suicide and 12.5% had a strong desire to commit suicide. in this data set, the relationship between “suicidal ideation” and “gender, marital status and grade” appeared statistically significant. conclusion: to protect against suicide and reverse the rising trend, preventive strategies must focus on supporting students to feel comfortable in talking about their suicidal thoughts.