Psychological and Cognitive-Emotional Moderators of Suicidal Ideation and Self-harm in Young Adults

The risk for suicide has been conceptualized as a continuum from dysfunctional psychological and cognitive states to suicidal thoughts and behaviour. Little is known about risk and protective factors of progression along the continuum. In the current study, we assessed ninety-four university students (36 individuals indicated suicidal ideation and 33 reported self-harm) for suicidality, depression, entrapment, defeat, hopelessness, mindfulness, self-compassion, and implicit associations with death/suicide. We used regression models and moderation analyses to test if mindfulness, self-compassion, and implicit association with death/suicide predicted suicidal ideation, self-harm, entrapment, or moderated the hypothesized continuum from entrapment to suicidal ideation and from entrapment to self-harm. Analyses were corrected for the severity of depressive symptomatology. Results indicated that lower self-compassion and weaker implicit associations with death/suicide statistically predicted self-harm, but not suicidal ideation. Mindfulness trend-wise predicted entrapment and moderated the relation between entrapment and suicidal ideation. Self-compassion nor implicit associations with death/suicide moderated the relation between entrapment and suicidal ideation. Hence, lower self-compassion and weaker implicit associations with death/suicide seem directly related to suicide risk behaviour, whereas mindfulness appears to negatively (i.e., suggestive of a protective role) relate to psychological risk-states earlier in the continuum. Therefore, self-compassion and mindfulness seem promising prevention targets for suicide risk in young adults.