Impact of negative life events on adolescent suicide attempts: A moderated mediation analysis

• Xiuli Zhao

  School of Education, South China Normal University, and Academy of Art and Design, Guangdong AIB Polytechnic College

• Junguo Feng

  School of Education, South China Normal University

• Xiongfei Chen

  School of Education, South China Normal University

• Zaoming Ma

  School of Education, South China Normal University, and Center for Southeast Asia Culture and Education Studies, South China Normal University

• Zhongwei Chen

  College of Robotics, Guangdong Polytechnic of Science and Technology

• Libing Zhang

  School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, and Faculty of Education, Henan Normal University

• Menghua Li

  Department of Tourism and Business, Guangdong Women’s Polytechnic College

• Sanmei Wu

  School of Foreign Languages, Guangdong AIB Polytechnic College

• Xiaofei Chen

  Institute of International and Comparative Education, South China Normal University

Suicide is a major public health problem among adolescents, and negative life events (NLE) have been considered a significant risk factor for suicide attempts. However, the mediating and moderating processes underlying the relationship between NLE and suicide attempts have remained obscure. We examined both the mediating role of depression and the moderating role of peer support underlying this relationship. The results showed that depression fully mediated the positive relationship between NLE and adolescent suicide attempts. A moderated mediation analysis further revealed that the indirect path from NLE to suicide attempts was moderated by peer support. These findings suggest that the development of depression plays a key role in explaining why adolescents who have experienced NLE are at a greater risk of suicide attempts than those who have not. A healthy peer support system could serve as a buffer to reduce the adverse outcomes resulting from NLE. Overall, the results may contribute to developing an integrative framework of theory and effective interventions.  

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