Abstract
BackgroundThe occurrence and degree of suicidal ideation during the past month in adolescents should be regarded seriously. Several studies have noted that humor expression style and depressive emotion may influence adolescents’ suicidal ideation. However, there is insufficient evidence concerning whether positive emotion reduces such suicidal ideation in adolescents. In addition, the relationships among humor expression, depressive emotion, positive emotion and suicidal ideation remain to be confirmed. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to test the mediating roles of depressive emotion and positive emotion in the relationship between humor expression and recent adolescent’s suicidal ideation.MethodsA total of 1551 students in junior high school completed questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with LISREL 8.80 and Monte Carlo resampling with R.ResultsThe results indicate that suicidal ideation in adolescents during the past month was related not only to humor expression but also to depressive emotion and positive emotion. The stronger the depressive emotion felt, the stronger the suicidal ideation; in contrast, the stronger the positive emotion, the weaker the suicidal ideation. Moreover, depressive emotion and positive emotion were found to mediate the relationship between humor expression and suicidal ideation; additionally, positive emotion was found to mediate the relationship between depressive emotion and suicidal ideation.ConclusionThese results highlight that depressive emotion and positive emotion may mediate the influence of humor expression on suicidal ideation among adolescents, and positive emotion may mediate the influence of depressive emotion on suicidal ideation. More attention should be paid to decreasing adolescents’ self-deprecating humor expression and depressive emotion, whereas more witty response humor expression and positive emotion should be encouraged to prevent their suicidal ideation.
Highlights
The occurrence and degree of suicidal ideation during the past month in adolescents should be regarded seriously
In addition to predicting the simple relationships among humor expression, depressive emotion, positive emotion and suicidal ideation, it was hypothesized that depressive emotion and positive emotion would play an important role in explaining the relationship between humor expression and suicidal ideation
The results of this study revealed a relationship between humor expression and suicidal ideation as well as relationships between humor expression and depressive emotion/positive emotion
Summary
The occurrence and degree of suicidal ideation during the past month in adolescents should be regarded seriously. Several studies have noted that humor expression style and depressive emotion may influence adolescents’ suicidal ideation. There is insufficient evidence concerning whether positive emotion reduces such suicidal ideation in adolescents. The relationships among humor expression, depressive emotion, positive emotion and suicidal ideation remain to be confirmed. In this study, we aimed to test the mediating roles of depressive emotion and positive emotion in the relationship between humor expression and recent adolescent’s suicidal ideation. Approximately 800,000 people die by suicide every year. It has even become the second leading cause of death among 15–29-year-olds globally [1]. In China, suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 20–34 [2]. One study has shown that subjects who experienced suicidal ideation at the age of 15 were nearly 12 times more likely than those that had not to have attempted suicide by the age of 30 [3]
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