ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Associations Between Self-Compassion and Suicidal Ideation Among College Students: The Serial Mediating Roles of Meaning in Life and Psychological Resilience and the Moderating Role of Perceived Stress
Provisionally accepted
- 1Jingchu University of Technology, Jingmen, China
- 2Tianshui Normal University, Tianshui, China
- 3Lanzhou Vocational Technical College, Lanzhou, China
- 4Hubei University of Science and Technology, Xianning, China
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Background Suicidal ideation is a critical concern among college students. We examined self-compassion as a key protective quality and its links with suicidal ideation. Our model places meaning in life and psychological resilience in a serial path between these variables and treats perceived stress as a contextual factor. Methods We carried out a survey and asked students to complete the Positive and Negative Suicide Ideation Scale, the Self-Compassion Scale, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, the short form of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and the short Perceived Stress Scale. With 905 valid questionnaires, we used partial least squares structural equation modeling to explore links among these variables. Results Self-compassion and suicidal ideation moved in opposite directions at the direct path level (β = −0.139, p = 0.004). An indirect effect also ran through a chain that first involved meaning in life and then psychological resilience (β = −0.008, p = 0.030). The product term of self-compassion and perceived stress showed a positive link with meaning in life (β = 0.333, p < 0.001), and this link was stronger when students reported higher stress. Conclusion Overall, self-compassion shows a protective pattern for suicidal ideation through meaning in life and psychological resilience, especially in high-stress situations. These results give useful ideas for designing campus mental health programs for college students.
Keywords: meaning in life, perceived stress, psychological resilience, self-compassion, Suicidal Ideation
Received: 08 Jan 2026; Accepted: 16 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Huang, Chen, Guan, Zhao and Pan. 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: Deng Pan
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