The Effect Of Self-esteem On High School Students’ Suicidal Ideation: The Mediating Role Of Authenticity And Unmet Interpersonal Needs

In recent years,news about adolescent suicide has been reported frequently,which is a great misfortune to both individuals and families.Suicide death is not only financially costly,it also causes emotional trauma that is difficult to heal.In China,the tragedy of self-injury and suicide among teenagers frequently occurs,and the high suicide rate among teenagers has become a social problem that needs to be solved urgently.High school students are in the turbulent period of psychological development,but also facing the heavy pressure of college entrance examination and interpersonal communication,which is easy to lead to the generation of suicidal ideation,and gradually develop into a high-risk group of suicide.Suicidal ideation,as a prelude to a fatal suicide attempt,can be effectively intervened to prevent further development of suicidal ideation.Therefore,paying attention to the risk factors and protective factors of high school students’suicidal ideation is of great significance for reducing the production of suicidal ideation.Based on the interpersonal theory of suicide,this paper explores the causes of suicidal ideation,revises the Interpersonal Needs Scale among high school students,and discusses the influence of high school students’self-esteem on suicidal ideation,as well as the relationship between authenticity and unmet interpersonal needs,hoping to throw some new light on the intervention of adolescents’suicidal ideation.In study 1,the reliability and validity of the interpersonal needs scale was tested among senior high school students,which provide a reliable instrument to assess the interpersonal needs and risk behavior of high school students.Study 2 used the revised INQ for high school students to investigate a total of 498subjects to explore the relationship between authenticity and two psychological structures of interpersonal needs on the influence of high school students’self-esteem on suicidal ideation,as well as the differences of research variables in different demographic variables.(1)The revised INQ has 11 items and maintains two-factor structures of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness which are consistent with the initial scale.The overall reliability coefficient is 0.94,and of each dimension are 0.89 and 0.94.The test-retest reliability of total scale and each dimension are between 0.74 and 0.83;RMSEA=0.06,CFI=0.96,TLI=0.95,χ~2/df=3.27,SRMR=0.03 good fit of theoretical model.This shows that the revised INQ has acceptable psychometric quality,and is suitable for evaluating the interpersonal needs of high school students.(2)There is a significant pairwise correlation between self-esteem,authenticity,thwarted belongingness,perceived burdensomeness and suicidal ideation.(3)Self-esteem can significantly predict suicidal ideation.Authenticity and thwarted belongingness play a chain mediating role between the influence of self-esteem on suicidal ideation,and the chain mediation effect is 9.08%;Authenticity and perceived burdensomeness play a chain mediating role between the influence of self-esteem on suicidal ideation,and the chain mediation effect is 11.45%.The results show that self-esteem is a significant predictor of suicidal ideation,and authenticity and unmet interpersonal needs(thwarted belongingness,perceived burdensomeness)play a chain-mediated role in the relationship between self-esteem and suicidal ideation in high school students.