Association between internet addiction and suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and suicide attempts among Chinese adolescents with and without parental migration

Abstract

Many left-behind children (LBC) are emerging in rural China and growing evidence indicated that parental migration was associated with various psychological problems. However, little is known about Internet addiction and suicidal behaviors among LBC. The study aims to explore the effect of Internet addiction and parental migration on three stages of suicidal behaviors, including suicidal ideation (SI), suicide plans (SP), and suicide attempts (SA). A total of 15,232 students graded 7 to 12 were recruited across five representative provinces in China. Results showed that LBC had a higher prevalence of SI and SA than non-LBC. However, after controlling for confounders, parental migration was insignificantly associated with suicidal behaviors. Internet addiction was significantly associated with increased odds of SI, SP, and SA. In addition, some variables showed different effects on suicidal behavior between LBC and non-LBC. Among LBC, psychological resilience, emotion management, and social support were negatively while loneliness was positively associated with SI, SP, and SA. Our findings suggest that adolescents with Internet addiction are more likely to report suicidal behaviors in rural China. For LBC, suicide preventive strategies could focus on reducing problematic Internet use and loneliness as well as improving psychological resilience, emotion management, and social support.