ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicImplementing Mental Health Prevention and Promotion Programs: A Sustainable Approach - Volume IIIView all 13 articles
From hopeless thoughts to suicidal attempt: A topographic analysis of adolescents' suicidal process using structural equation modeling
Provisionally accepted
Héctor Morillo-Sarto1Séfora Ene-Gimeno1,2
Javier Torres-Vallejos3Samara Sáez-Martínez1,2
Joel Juarros-Basterretxea1*- 1Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
- 2AFDA, Zaragoza, Spain
- 3Universidad Santo Tomas, Santiago, Chile
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This study examined adolescents' suicidal process by considering suicidal-related behaviours as related but distinct elements of the suicidal process, which in turn can explain the association between psychological distress and suicidal attempts. Participants were 918 secondary education students between 14 and 21 years old. Suicidal-related behaviours were measured using Paykel's Suicide Scale, which includes hopeless thoughts about life's worth, the wish to be dead, thoughts about taking one's life, suicidal planning, and suicidal attempts. Psychological distress was measured using the depression and anxiety subscales of DASS-21. Structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect effects of psychological distress on suicidal attempts. Two pathways predominantly explain the effect of psychological distress on suicidal attempts: one through the complete process and another, more direct, from the hopeless thoughts and wish to be dead to the attempt. Hopeless thoughts about life's worth and wishing to be dead have been demonstrated as crucial factors in the explanation of adolescents' suicidal attempts. Interventions to prevent adolescents' suicidal attempts should focus not only on explicit suicidal ideation but on less intense life and death-related ideas like hopeless thoughts and the wish to be dead.
Keywords: adolescents4, psychological distress3, structural equation modeling5, Suicidal Attempt2, suicide1
Received: 15 Oct 2025; Accepted: 13 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Morillo-Sarto, Ene-Gimeno, Torres-Vallejos, Sáez-Martínez and Juarros-Basterretxea. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Joel Juarros-Basterretxea
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