Linking Depression to Suicide Risk: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation in Individuals With Childhood Maltreatment

Abstract

Childhood trauma is often considered a major risk factor for depression and suicidal behaviour. Nevertheless, the literature offers rare evidence for psychological mechanisms through which depressive symptoms contribute to suicide risk in those with a trauma history. This study explores the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties in the link between depressive symptoms and suicide risk among young adults with childhood trauma. The sample consisted of 310 participants (M_age = 20.71 years; 64.5% female) who scored 35 or higher on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire in Türkiye. The data were also collected using the Suicide Probability Scale, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form (DERS-16) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). We used Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 4) to perform mediation analysis. Our findings showed that depressive symptoms directly and indirectly predicted suicide risk through emotion regulation difficulties. Our model accounted for 62.49% of the variance in suicide risk; therefore, emotion regulation difficulties could be a key mechanism linking depression to suicidality. Overall, the findings emphasise the importance of early detection of depressive symptoms. Interventions addressing emotion regulation difficulties in those with trauma experience should also be considered to help mitigate suicide risk.