The Impact of Mortality Salience, Negative Emotions and Cultural Values on Suicidal Ideation in COVID-19: A Conditional Process Model

Feng Huang, Sijia Li, Dongqi Li, Meizi Yang, Huimin Ding, Yazheng Di and Tingshao Zhu
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Feng Huang: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Sijia Li: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Dongqi Li: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Meizi Yang: School of Child Development and Education, China Women’s University, Beijing 100101, China
Huimin Ding: School of Education, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100034, China
Yazheng Di: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Tingshao Zhu: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: As suicides incurred by the COVID-19 outbreak keep happening in many countries, researchers have raised concerns that the ongoing pandemic may lead to “a wave of suicides” in society. Suicidal ideation (SI) is a critical factor in conducting suicide intervention and also an important indicator for measuring people’s mental health. Therefore, it is vital to identify the influencing factors of suicidal ideation and its psychological mechanism during the outbreak. Based on the terror management theory, in the present study we conducted a social media big data analysis to explore the joint effects of mortality salience (MS), negative emotions (NE), and cultural values on suicidal ideation in 337 regions on the Chinese mainland. The findings showed that (1) mortality salience was a positive predictor of suicidal ideation, with negative emotions acting as a mediator; (2) individualism was a positive moderator in the first half-path of the mediation model; (3) collectivism was a negative moderator in the first half-path of the mediation model. Our findings not only expand the application of the terror management theory in suicide intervention but provide some insights into post-pandemic mental healthcare. Timely efforts are needed to provide psychological interventions and counseling on outbreak-caused negative emotions in society. Compared with people living in collectivism-prevailing regions, those living in individualism-prevailing regions may be more vulnerable to mortality salience and negative emotions and need more social attention.

Keywords: suicidal ideation; negative emotion; collectivism; individualism; terror management theory; big data analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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