[Self-esteem, resilience, locus of control and suicide risk in nursing students].
OBJECTIVE
Assuming that suicide is the result of a series of factors acting cumulatively, the aim of this paper was to study the association of self-esteem, resilience and locus of control with the risk of suicidal behavior in a sample of nursing students.


METHODS
Observational, cross-sectional and correlational study with 186 nursing students who answered a questionnaire that contained, in addition to demographic data, the Spanish forms of Rosenberg self-esteem scale, the brief resilient coping scale, the Plutchik scale of suicide risk and the Rotter's internal-external locus of control scale.


RESULTS
The scores of males and females are very similar on all scales except Locus of Control, where a significantly greater tendency of females attributed to external control. 6.4% of students have scores indicating suicide risk. Suicide risk scores correlated negatively and significantly with self-esteem and resilience and positively with locus of control. The multiple linear regression analysis identified self-esteem as the main variable related to suicide risk.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that students who have low self-esteem, have difficulty in adjusting to adverse situations and tend to the external attribution of the consequences of their actions may have an increased risk of suicidal behavior. Furthermore, the identification of self-esteem as the important factor involved in suicide risk can help in designing prevention programs.
Escuela Universitaria de Enfermería Gimbernat, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, España.
Javier
J
Montes-Hidalgo
Escuela Universitaria de Enfermería Gimbernat, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, España. Electronic address: joaquin.tomas@eug.es.
Joaquín
J
Tomás-Sábado
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D013405:Suicide
Autoestima; Enfermería; Locus de control; Locus of control; Nursing; Resilience; Resiliencia; Riesgo suicida; Self-esteem; Suicide risk