The Relationship Between Non-Suicidal Self-Injury and Suicidal Ideation During Early Adolescence: The Longitudinal Moderating Role of Resilience

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the dynamic development relationship between non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), suicidal ideation, and resilience amongst early adolescents, and to explore the longitudinal protective effect of resilience in preventing suicidal behaviour. A survey was conducted on 970 students (52.89% boys; M_age = 12.36; SD = 0.52; Age range = 11–14 years old at T1) from two middle schools in Hunan Province, China, over a period of 12 months, with data collected at three time points (T1, T2, and T3), each separated by a six-month interval. The study employed latent growth models to analyse the trends in NSSI, suicidal ideation, and resilience amongst the participants. Additionally, a longitudinal moderating model was used to investigate the impact of resilience. The results showed that (1) NSSI and suicidal ideation showed a linear increasing trend, and resilience showed a linear decreasing trend; (2) the initial level of NSSI positively predicted the initial level of suicidal ideation, and negatively predicted its growth rate significantly. The growth rate of NSSI positively predicted the growth rate of suicidal ideation significantly. (3) The growth rate of resilience plays a negative moderating role in the relationship between the growth rate of NSSI and suicidal ideation, which means as the rate of decline in adolescents' resilience accelerates, the increase in NSSI shows stronger predictive power for the increase in suicidal ideation. The findings emphasise the dynamic interactions between NSSI, suicidal ideation, and resilience, highlighting resilience's potential protective role in preventing suicidal behaviour.