A total of 3,680 students participated in the Swaziland Global School-based student Health Survey in 2013. Table 1 shows the distributions of proposed risk factors by gender among school students aged from <11 to 18+ years. The majority of the sample was female (51.2%). Most of the male students were in the age group 18+ years (29.5%), while most of the female students were of age 15 years (18.8%). The overall prevalence of suicidal ideation was 17.0% (15.6% among males and 18.3% among females).

Overall, most students (58.5%) reported that their parents or guardians always or most of the time did not understand their problems or worries. About a third of all students were physically attacked (32.4%) in the previous 12 months to the survey and bullied (31.1%) in the previous 30 days to the survey. The proportion of male students who were in a physical fight in the past 12 months was 24.2% and 13.6% for female students. For drug use, the percentage of male students who had ever used drugs was 18.6% compared to 6.8% of females. During the same period, 11.1% of the male and 3.7% of females ever used marijuana.

All that factors considered in the analysis were significantly associated with the outcome in bivariate analyses (Table 2). However, in multivariate analysis, having close friends was no longer a significant factor. Students of age less than 14 years were 15% less likely (AOR=0.85, 95% CI [0.78, 0.91]) to consider committing suicide compared to students of age 18 years or older. Compared to students aged 18 years or older, students of age 17 years were 25% more likely (AOR=1.25, 95% CI [1.19, 1.31]) to consider committing suicide. Male students were 17% less likely (AOR=0.83, 95% CI [0.81, 0.85]) to consider committing suicide than females. Students who most of the time or always went hungry because there was not enough food in their homes were 1.23 (95% CI [1.18, 1.28]) times more likely to consider committing suicide.

Students who most of the time or always felt lonely or had been so worried about something that they could not sleep at night (anxiety) were more likely to consider committing suicide compared to those students not lonely or so worried (AOR=1.47, 95% CI [1.42, 1.53] for loneliness and AOR=1.43, 95% CI [1.37, 1.48] for anxiety). Students who missed classes or school without permission were 26% (95% CI [1.22, 1.31]) more likely to consider committing suicide compared to students who never missed classes or school. In relation to violence, students who were bullied, attacked or involved in a physical fight were more likely to consider committing suicide compared to students who were not involved in violence (bullied AOR=1.24, 95% CI [1.21, 1.27]), attacked AOR=1.12, 95% CI [1.09, 1.17]) and involvement in a fight AOR=1.13, 95% CI [1.10, 1.17])). Drug use was associated with considering committing suicide. Students who ever used drugs were 1.27 (95% CI [1.21, 1.34]) times more likely to consider committing suicide than those who never ever used drugs. Similarly, students who ever used marijuana were 27% more likely (AOR=1.27, 95% CI [1.19, 1.35]) to consider committing suicide than those who never ever used marijuana. Compared to students whose parents most of the time or always understood their problems and worries were 15% less likely (AOR=0.85, 95% CI [0.83, 0.87]) to consider committing suicide than those students whose parents never, rarely or sometimes understood their problems or worries.