The association between family socioeconomic status and suicide ideation among adolescent: A conditional process model

Abstract

Traditionally, most researchers believe that low family socioeconomic status (SES) is closely related to high suicide ideation, but this view remains controversial in empirical studies. Meanwhile, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this association. Moreover, previous studies on the relationship between family SES and suicide ideation have mostly focused on adults rather than adolescents and relatively lacked support from Chinese samples. Therefore, this study is based on the integrated motivational–volitional model of suicide behaviour and the context-process-outcomes model, aiming to determine whether and how family SES is associated with adolescents’ suicide ideation and to evaluate the chain-mediating effect of effortful control and irritability, as well as the moderating effect of future orientation on this association. Data were extracted from 1058 girls and 855 boys, aged 11 to 19 years (14.86 ± 1.61 years), who completed a self-reported online survey. Descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square test, bivariate correlations, and regression analysis were performed using IBM SPSS version 25. The conditional process model (CPM) was examined using SPSS PROCESS Macro 4.0. The results showed that there were differences in some demographic factors and the main study variables between adolescents with and without suicide ideation. In addition, the results suggested that family SES was not directly related to suicide ideation in adolescents, but it could indirectly effect suicide ideation through the chain-mediating effect of effortful control and irritability. Furthermore, future orientation moderated the relationship between irritability and suicide ideation. These findings provide evidence for current debates and conflicting conclusions, reveal the effect mechanism of family SES on suicide ideation, and add to empirical support for the prevention and intervention of adolescent suicide ideation.