College extracurricular involvement as a suicide prevention and wellness promotion strategy: Exploring the roles of social support and meaning

Objective Increased demands during the transition into college can negatively impact students' physical and mental wellness, and increase risk of suicide. A supportive campus culture that promotes social connectedness and meaningful engagement may amplify wellness and prevent suicide. This study explored whether involvement in extracurricular activities was associated with wellness and suicide ideation and non-fatal suicidal behavior through perceived social support and meaningfulness. Method Undergraduate students (N = 583) recruited from a southeastern university completed a survey of self-report measures. Two parallel mediation models were tested utilizing Hayes PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results Perceived social support fully mediated the relationship between extracurricular activity involvement and wellness, beta = 0.06, 95%CI [0.03, 0.10], but not suicide ideation and non-fatal suicidal behavior. Meaningfulness was not associated with wellness or suicide ideation and non-fatal suicidal behavior. Conclusion Increased stress is a natural and expected component of university life. ECA involvement may impact college wellness by promoting social support.