Peng JX, Bai LF, Xue T, Tian JQ. Harsh parenting and suicidal ideation of undergraduates: The mediating role of psychache and the moderating role of resilience. World J Psychiatry 2026; 16(9): 120630 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.120630]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jian-Quan Tian, Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Naval Medical Center of PLA, No. 338 Huaihai Road, Shanghai 200433, China. psychologist@vip.163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Psychology
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research-article
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Peng JX, Bai LF, Xue T, Tian JQ. Harsh parenting and suicidal ideation of undergraduates: The mediating role of psychache and the moderating role of resilience. World J Psychiatry 2026; 16(9): 120630 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.120630]
Jia-Xi Peng, Mental Health Education Center, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, Sichuan Province, China
Li-Feng Bai, Ting Xue, Aviation University of Air Force, Changchun 130022, Jilin Province, China
Jian-Quan Tian, Department of Clinical Psychology, Naval Medical Center of PLA, Shanghai 200433, China
Co-corresponding authors: Li-Feng Bai and Jian-Quan Tian.
Author contributions: Peng JX, Bai LF, Xue T, and Tian JQ made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; took part in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; Bai LF and Tian JQ contributed equally to this article, they are the co-corresponding authors of this manuscript; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
AI contribution statement: The “answering-reviewers” file was not created using an AI tool.
Supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China, No. 25BSH104.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Chengdu University, approval No. 293721687.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Jian-Quan Tian, Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Naval Medical Center of PLA, No. 338 Huaihai Road, Shanghai 200433, China. psychologist@vip.163.com
Received: March 4, 2026 Revised: March 30, 2026 Accepted: May 7, 2026 Published online: September 19, 2026 Processing time: 173 Days and 18.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Harsh parenting represents a significant risk factor for suicidal ideation among college students. However, the underlying psychological mechanisms through which harsh parenting contributes to suicidal ideation remain inadequately understood, particularly regarding potential mediating and moderating factors.
AIM
To examine the mediating role of psychache and the moderating role of resilience in the relationship between harsh parenting and suicidal ideation among Chinese college students.
METHODS
A total of 890 college students from four comprehensive universities in China completed cross-sectional assessments between September and November 2024 using the Harsh Parenting Scale, Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation, Psychache Scale, and Ego-Resiliency Scale. Structural equation modeling with bias-corrected bootstrap procedures was employed to test the moderated mediation model.
RESULTS
Harsh parenting was significantly and positively associated with suicidal ideation (β = 0.39, P < 0.01). Psychache significantly and partially mediated this relationship, accounting for 35.71% of the total effect (indirect effect = 0.10, 95% confidence interval: 0.05-0.15). Resilience significantly moderated the relationships between harsh parenting and psychache (β = -0.20, P < 0.01), harsh parenting and suicidal ideation (β = -0.19, P = 0.02), and psychache and suicidal ideation (β = -0.13, P = 0.01). Simple slope analyses indicated that these relationships were significant under low resilience conditions but became non-significant or substantially weakened under high resilience conditions.
CONCLUSION
Psychache serves as an accelerating mechanism and resilience functions as a protective mechanism in the process whereby harsh parenting is associated with suicidal ideation among college students. These findings provide empirical support for suicide prevention strategies centered on psychache intervention and resilience cultivation.
Core Tip: This study reveals a moderated mediation model linking harsh parenting to suicidal ideation among college students. Psychache partially mediates this relationship, accounting for approximately 36% of the total effect, while resilience moderates all three pathways (harsh parenting - psychache, harsh parenting - suicidal ideation, and psychache - suicidal ideation). Under high resilience conditions, the detrimental effects of harsh parenting are substantially attenuated. These findings highlight the importance of targeting psychache reduction and resilience enhancement in suicide prevention programs for college students from adverse family backgrounds.
