Mindfulness, and Specifically Compassion, Buffers the Relationship between Hopelessness and Suicide Ideation in College Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of mindfulness in suicide ideation (SI) in college students by testing which component(s) of mindfulness would add to the explanation of SI when depression, hopelessness and suicide attempt history were considered. Seven hundred sixty-three undergraduate college students provided survey data on well-established measures of the constructs of interest. Regressions were used to test associations between SI, attentional control and compassion and whether attentional control or compassion buffered relationships between depression, hopelessness and SI. In this sample, neither component of mindfulness was related to SI. However, the relationship between hopelessness and SI in college students was buffered by compassion, such that those students with greater compassion evidenced no relationship between hopelessness and SI. Findings from this study suggest compassion may warrant targeting to reduce SI among college students, particularly among those who are hopeless.