Citation

Ying J, You J, Guo J. Child. Youth Serv. Rev. 2020; 119.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105660

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Suicide is a serious public health concern among adolescents worldwide, and academic stress is a key risk factor in the development of suicidal risk, especially in China. However, the potential prevention mechanisms underlying the relationship between academic stress and suicidal risk are not fully understood. This study tested a moderated mediation model to examine the roles of regulatory emotional self-efficacy and youth assets at the individual (e.g., responsible choices), family (e.g., parental monitoring), and school (e.g., school connectedness) levels in this relationship.

METHODS: A total of 1,379 Chinese adolescents (51.0% males; mean age = 13.82 years, SD = 1.46) participated in this study and completed self-report measures of academic stress, suicidal risk, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, and youth assets.

RESULTS: There were significant correlations among academic stress, suicidal risk, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, and youth assets. In the moderated mediation analyses, after controlling for gender, regulatory emotional self-efficacy mediated the relationship between academic stress and suicidal risk, and youth assets moderated the relation of regulatory emotional self-efficacy to suicidal risk. In addition, a higher level of youth assets buffered the indirect effects of academic stress on suicidal risk through regulatory emotional self-efficacy.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings have implications for the development of interventions that aim at reducing suicidal risk in adolescents with great academic stress. Clinicians may pay special attention to the preventive roles of youth assets and regulatory emotional self-efficacy. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Language: en

Keywords

adolescent; human; gender; female; male; stress; Suicidal risk; juvenile; article; major clinical study; controlled study; attention; human experiment; self report; Chinese; Academic stress; Regulatory emotional self-efficacy; Youth assets