These other such factors included age, class standing, race/ethnicity, living arrangement, and fraternity/sorority membership. The questionnaire indicated that freshmen and sophomores were more likely to consider suicide than upper-classmen; students of ethnic/racial backgrounds other than White, Black or Hispanic were more likely to have considered suicide; students who lived alone, with friends/roommates, or parents/guardians were more likely than those who lived with a partner or spouse; students who were members of a fraternity/sorority were less likely to have considered suicide. The components of tobacco, alcohol, and illegal substance use were then configured into the results. For the students who had contemplated suicide, the percent of those who answered “yes” to having engaged in cigarette smoking, episodic heavy drinking, marijuana use, cocaine and other illegal drug use, and combined drug use and alcohol use was more often than not doubled. It has been suggested "that substance use may foster suicidal ideation or behavior by increasing impulsivity, decreasing inhibition, and creating social isolation and personal failure”. However, studies have not yet been able to sort out if alcohol abuse precedes suicide ideation or behavior, or if suicidal ideation precedes substance abuse. The experimenters in this research believe that colleges and universities should establish suicide prevention programs or improve on existing ones. The CDC has published a guide that advises on several different recommended prevention strategies that could be incorporated into such a program....
