Psychopathological distress and suicide among adults with major depressive disorder: The moderating role of resilience and mediating role of deliberate self-harm
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol8iss1pp226-245Abstract
Background and Purpose: In the past year, 6.6% of patients with major depressive disorders attempted suicide. Suicidal ideation and behavior may be protected by resilience. Despite decades of research on suicide risk factors in young people, our understanding of the phenomenon has not improved significantly. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychopathological distress and suicide in adults with major depressive disorder. The current study also examines the moderating role of resilience and the mediating role of deliberate self-harm among adults with major depressive disorder.
Methodology: A correlational research design was used in the present study. Data was taken from (n=300) adults with major depressive disorder through a purposive sampling strategy. Attitude toward deliberate self-harm questionnaire, Columbia suicide screener, brief resilience scale, depression anxiety stress scale and Beck depression inventory-II were used as an assessment measure.
Findings: The result showed that psychopathological distress (r = .04, p < .005) with suicide and resilience significant negative (r = -.11, p < .004) relationship with suicide. However, deliberates self-harm (r = .21, p = .001) showed a significant positive relationship with suicide. Regression findings found that all models were significant. In the first step (ΔR2 = .02, F (1, 298) = .51, p = .000) psychopathological distress was a statistically significant predictor (β = .04, p = .000), In the second model (ΔR2 = -.06, F (2, 297) = 2.23, p < .004) resilience (β = -.11, p = .004) was a significant predictor of suicide. In the third model (ΔR2 = -.03, F (3, 296) = 4.95, p < .001) deliberate self-harm (β = .23, p = .001) was a significant predictor of suicide. In addition, mediation analysis revealed that deliberate self-harm was a significant (p = .05) mediator between psychopathological distress and suicide. Moderating findings showed a significant interaction effect of psychopathological distress x resilience (B= -1.42, p= .00), and it revealed that resilience plays a significant (p = .05) moderating role between psychopathological distress and suicide.
Contributions. The study concludes that a higher level of psychopathological distress and deliberate self-harm leads to a higher level of suicide, which causes severe levels of major depressive disorder. The present study will help to understand how to enhance resilience, which reduces deliberate self-harm and suicide acts among adults with major depressive disorder.
Keywords: Psychopathological distress, resilience, deliberate self-harm, suicide, adults, major depressive disorder.
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