Recently, the suicide rate among college students in their 20s in South Korea has remained at a high level. The issue of suicide among college students is considered a serious social problem as it causes significant losses on both individual and socie...
Recently, the suicide rate among college students in their 20s in South Korea has remained at a high level. The issue of suicide among college students is considered a serious social problem as it causes significant losses on both individual and societal levels, including the loss of talents who are responsible for the future of the nation and the incurrence of social costs. Therefore, it is urgent to prevent and appropriately intervene in the issue of suicide. Understanding the pathways of suicide among college students is crucial for effective prevention and intervention. This study aimed to examine the pathways of suicide presented by the theory based on the Reactive Avoidance Model, which highlights the functional aspects of suicidal behavior and suggests emotional regulation interventions and phased interventions. For this purpose, a survey was conducted on 386 students enrolled in four-year universities in South Korea who had experienced suicidal thoughts at least once within the past six months, with a final analysis conducted on 355 valid responses. The measurement tools used in this study were the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Depression Experience Questionnaire (DEQ), the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ), the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ), the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire (SBQ-R), and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ).
The main results of this study are as follows. First, the correlation analysis between major variables showed that all variables, except for experiential avoidance, had significant correlations. Experiential avoidance had significant positive correlations only with cognitive emotion regulation strategies and adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Second, in the pathway from perceived stress to self-criticism through experiential avoidance and suicidal ideation, the moderated mediation effects of cognitive emotion regulation strategies, adaptive emotion regulation strategies, and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies were significant. The conditional indirect effects of the dual mediation pathways through cognitive emotion regulation strategies and adaptive emotion regulation strategies were significant in a positive direction when the level of emotion regulation strategies was 1SD above the mean and significant in a negative direction when 1SD below the mean. The conditional indirect effects of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies were significant in a negative direction when 1SD below the mean or at the mean level.
The results of this study support the mechanisms explaining the occurrence of 107 suicidal ideation described in the Reactive Avoidance model, facilitating appropriate suicide prevention and intervention strategies for college students experiencing suicidal ideation. Additionally, the findings can contribute to intervention programs aimed at enhancing stress management and appropriate emotion regulation abilities. They can also serve as foundational data for developing screening tools for assessing suicide risk among college students. The study is significant in that it identified different moderating effects of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, suggesting appropriate emotion regulation interventions for college students exhibiting experiential avoidance. Lastly, the limitations of this study and suggestions for future research were discussed.