“Level of Hopelessness and Its Association with Suicide Risk among University Students at a Private University in Asunción, 2025”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62544/3spg3h57Keywords:
Desesperanza, estudiantes universitarios, salud mental, ciencias de la salud, bienestar psicológicoAbstract
Suicide represents a major public health problem and one of the leading causes of mortality among young people. Hopelessness has been identified as one of the main psychological factors associated with suicide risk. In Paraguay, scientific evidence regarding mental health among university students remains limited.To analyze the level of hopelessness as an indicator associated with suicide risk among university students at a private institution in Asunción during 2025.
A non-experimental, quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was conducted. The population consisted of 600 Health Sciences students, from which a sample of 92 participants was obtained through non-probabilistic convenience sampling. Data collection was carried out using a digital questionnaire including the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 360 through descriptive statistics, absolute and relative frequencies, and measures of central tendency and dispersion.
The median age was 24 years, with predominance of female participants (70.84%). The most frequent age group was 21–25 years (26.68%). Regarding the Beck Hopelessness Scale, 71.7% presented moderate hopelessness, 17.4% mild hopelessness, and 10.9% severe hopelessness. No cases were identified in the minimal category. More than 80% of students showed moderate to severe hopelessness levels.
The findings revealed high levels of hopelessness among the university population studied, suggesting its possible association with suicide risk and highlighting the need to implement institutional prevention programs, early detection strategies, and emotional well-being support for university students
References
Álamo, C., Baader, T., Antúnez, Z., Bagladi, V., y Bejer, T. (2019). Escala de desesperanza de Beck como instrumento útil para detectar riesgo de suicidio en universitarios chilenos. Revista Chilena de Neuro-Psiquiatría, 57(2), 167–175. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0717-92272019000200167
Beck, A. T., & Steer, R. A. (1988). Beck Hopelessness Scale: Manual. The Psychological Corporation.
Beck, A. T., Weissman, A., Lester, D., & Trexler, L. (1974). The measurement of pessimism: The Hopelessness Scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42(6), 861–865. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0037562
Boduszek, D., & Dhingra, K. (2016). Construct validity of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) among university students: A multitrait-multimethod approach. Psychological Assessment, 28(10), 1325–1330. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000245
Córdova Osnaya, M., y Rosales Pérez, J. C. (2011). Consistencia interna y estructura factorial de la Escala de Desesperanza de Beck en estudiantes mexicanos. Revista de Psicología, 29(2), 289–309.
Crispim, M. O., Santos, C. M. R., Frazão, I. S., Frazão, C. M. F. Q., Albuquerque, R. C. R., & Perrelli, J. G. A. (2021). Prevalence of suicidal behavior in young university students: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 29, e3495. https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.5320.3495
Hanna, D., White, R., Lyons, K., McParland, M. J., Shannon, C., & Mulholland, C. (2011). The structure of the Beck Hopelessness Scale: A confirmatory factor analysis in UK students. Personality and Individual Differences, 51(1), 17–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.03.001
Hermosillo-De la Torre, A. E., Méndez-Sánchez, C., y González-Betanzos, F. (2020). Evidencias de validez factorial de la Escala de desesperanza de Beck en español con muestras clínicas y no clínicas. Acta Colombiana de Psicología, 23(2), 148–169. https://doi.org/10.14718/ACP.2020.23.2.7
Li, W., Dorstyn, D. S., & Jarmon, E. (2020). Identifying suicide risk among college students: A systematic review. Death Studies, 44(7), 450–458. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2019.1578305
Mason, H. D. (2024). The duality of hope and challenges: A phenomenological study of first-year university students’ experiences in South Africa. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1470943. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1470943
McMillan, D., Gilbody, S., Beresford, E., & Neilly, L. (2007). Can we predict suicide and non-fatal self-harm with the Beck Hopelessness Scale? A meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 37(6), 769–778. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291706009664
Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social. (2024). Plan Nacional de Salud Mental 2024–2030.
Ribeiro, J. D., Huang, X., Fox, K. R., & Franklin, J. C. (2018). Depression and hopelessness as risk factors for suicide ideation, attempts and death: Meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 212(5), 279–286. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2018.27
Ruiz Ledesma, E. F. (2025). Estudio sobre la desesperanza en estudiantes de nivel superior. RIDE Revista Iberoamericana para la Investigación y el Desarrollo Educativo, 16(31), e988. https://doi.org/10.23913/ride.v16i31.2672
Usuga Jerez, A. J., Vanegas Méndez, S. N., Tapias Soto, M. F., Villabona Pérez, J. M., & Lemos Ramírez, N. V. (2023). Desperation among university students during SARS-COV-2 virus quarantine. Revista Interamericana de Psicología, 57(2), e1397. https://doi.org/10.30849/ripijp.v57i2.1397
Tao, Y., Niu, H., Hou, W., Zhang, L., & Ying, R. (2023). Hopelessness during and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown among Chinese college students: A longitudinal network analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 79(3), 748–761. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23439
World Health Organization. (2025). Suicide worldwide in 2021: Global health estimates.
World Medical Association. (2025). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: Ethical principles for medical research involving human participants. JAMA, 333(1), 71–74. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2024.21972
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Marco Antonio Cabrera Velázquez, María Luján Alcaraz Centurión
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
La Revista Científica UCOM Scientia se distribuye bajo una Licencia Atribución 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es
