Childhood maltreatment and suicide ideation in Chinese college students: The chain mediating role of self-compassion and depressive symptoms

Child Abuse Negl. 2025 Apr 30;165:107475. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2025.107475. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a widespread public health issue and understanding the risk and protective factors associated with suicidal ideation is critical for developing effective prevention and intervention strategies.

OBJECTIVE: Based on the interpersonal theory of suicide and attachment theory, the current study aimed to investigate the chain mediating role of self-compassion and depressive symptoms in the correlation between childhood maltreatment and suicidal ideation among Chinese college students.

METHODS: This two-wave study included 1286 Chinese college students in Hebei and Hubei, China. Participants completed questionnaires for childhood maltreatment, self-compassion, depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and recent traumatic events.

RESULTS: After controlling for sex, paternal and maternal educational levels, household monthly income, and recent traumatic events, only emotional neglect was found to be positively and directly associated with suicidal ideation. Moreover, positive self-compassion (PSC) significantly and positively mediated the relationship between emotional and physical neglect and suicidal ideation. In addition, the relationship between emotional abuse and suicidal ideation was positively and sequentially mediated by negative self-compassion (NSC) and depressive symptoms, whereas the association between emotional neglect and suicidal ideation was sequentially mediated by PSC and depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of promoting PSC to reduce the impact of neglect on suicidal ideation, and alleviating NSC to reduce the impact of emotional abuse on suicidal ideation.

PMID:40311487 | DOI:10.1016/j.chiabu.2025.107475