Satisfaction with Life and Suicidal Ideation Among Ecuadorian University Students: A Network Analysis

The aim is to analyze the relationship between Satisfaction with Life (SWL) and Suicidal Ideation (SI) from a network perspective in a sample of university students of medicine and nursery. Like method, the study employs network theory to find interconnected nodes between these two constructs through a non-regularized partial network. The study’s participants are 618 university students from four universities in the province of Tungurahua, Ecuador. 61.8% were men and 38.2% were women, with ages ranging from 18 to 43 years (M = 20.33 years; SD = 2.32). The main results show the SWL and SI form a network. Furthermore, each theoretical community (SWL and SI) forms its own cluster, and the intergroup edges are positive. Item 3 of the SWL is comorbid with item 3 of the SI and the relationship is negative, making it a bridge between SWL and SI. Thinking about taking one’s life and life circumstances being good are the most central items. In conclusion, the SWL and SI form a stable and robust network of indicators among university students in Ecuador.