Current Psychotic-Like Experiences Among Chinese College Students: Prevalence, Correlates, and Its Relationship with Suicidal Ideation

Bingna Xu,1 Chunping Chen,1 Dongfang Wang2,3 1Institute of Education, Xiamen University, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Centre for Studies of Psychological Applications, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Educational Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Chunping Chen, Institute of Education, Xiamen University, Siming Road, Xiamen, 361005, People’s Republic of China, Email 894906014@qq.com Dongfang Wang, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Shipai Road, Guangzhou, 510631, People’s Republic of China, Email wdfpsyc@126.com; wangdf@m.scnu.edu.cnBackground: Current psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are prevalent among adolescents. However, epidemiological data on the prevalence rate of current PLEs among college students and its clinical correlates are scarce and limited. To address this study gap, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence and correlates of current PLEs among Chinese college students.Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed with a sample of 18,578 college students in China. Each participant completed a survey on social-demographic characteristics variables, PLEs, sleep disturbance, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the influential factors for PLEs among all participants and suicidal ideation among those with PLEs.Results: Among Chinese college students, 40.3% of the participants reported having at least one PLE in the past month, while 7.5% had frequent PLEs. Males, age, residence location in town, left-behind experiences, poor family economic status, chronic physical illness, family history of mental disorder, BMI ≥ 28 [obesity], sleep disturbance, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation were independent correlates for frequent PLEs. Furthermore, the prevalence of suicidal ideation among participants with frequent PLEs was 32.1%. Lower grades, sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety were independent predictors of suicidal ideation among college students who experience PLEs frequently.Conclusion: Current PLEs are widespread among Chinese college students. Suicidal ideation is largely prevalent among individuals who suffer frequent PLEs, suggesting that special measures and attention should be provided to these students based on relevant factors to prevent their suicidal ideation and behavior.Keywords: psychotic-like experiences, suicidal ideation, correlates, college students