Bidirectional Role of Family in Suicide Ideation among Students: A Review of Risk and Protective Factors

Abstract

Suicide is a serious preventable public health problem worldwide which occurs due to various reasons, psychological factors being the most prominent, however each and every risk factor contributes to the suicidal thoughts. Globally there are majority of studies conducted on psychological, academic, personality factors, but very few studies conducted on family dynamics which is a very important institute of an individual. Hence the present study aims to tap the various family related risk factors of suicide ideation and also answer what are the family related protective factors. A narrative-review approach has been used to collect papers between the 2015-2025 years across different database namely Google Scholar, PubMed, and and Shod Ganga using keywords such as “suicide ideation”, “risk factors”, “family risk factors”, “students”, “suicide behavior”, “protective factor”. A total of 21 studies has been included based on the eligibility criteria. The findings indicated that the majority of included studies examined family dynamics as risk factors, whereas comparatively fewer studies explored family-related factors as protective factor for suicide ideation. Family as a risk factor includes neglectful parenting style, nuclear family type, separated/divorced parents, poor parent-child relationship, family dysfunction, staying away from home, low family meaning, Parental unstable work, financial crises and parental expectation. The role of family as a protective factor includes promoting religious practice, having joint family type, parental monitoring and security, family support & Flexibility and Parental Care. The family is the primary environment where children spend most of their formative years, it is essential that adequate care be directed toward strengthening family functioning through evidence-based interventions, family-based therapies, and community awareness programmes.