The alarming rise in suicides among college students was the topic of discussion on a recent “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Amanda Nadler

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Amanda Nadler, a senior in MTSU’s School of Nursing, first aired Feb. 18 on WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 and online at www.wmot.org.

You can listen to their conversation above.

The Nashville native, who aspires to become a psychiatric nurse, wrote a paper on the subject as part of her thesis as an Honors Transfer Fellow in MTSU’s University Honors College.

Her report reviewed existing research for determining who is at risk for suicide and why, along with proposals from colleges and universities suggesting possible interventions and buffers to suicidal thoughts.

One aspect of her research Nadler said she found surprising was the relative lack of statistics on suicide and attempted suicide that institutions of higher learning had collected.

“Suicide prevention efforts are kind of futile if you’re not collecting that information, just because you have no way of knowing if your efforts are successful,” Nadler said.

The American Association of Suicidology lists suicide as the second leading cause of death for college-aged people in the United States.

Nadler’s paper, titled “Suicide Ideation in College Students: A Review of Predicting Factors, Buffers and Proposed Interventions,” was published in JEWLScholar in May 2018. You can read it here.

Her research also was cited in a November 2019 article, “Fathima Latheef: Death on the Campus,” in Open, a weekly international current affairs and features magazine headquartered in New Delhi, India.

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, visit the searchable “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.

For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.