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The mediator role of perceived social support in the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and suicide tendency

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Abstract

While literature maintained a strong association between emotion regulation skills and suicidal behavior, relatively less is known as to what extent this relationship goes through different dimensions of perceived social support. The purpose of the present study is to examine the possible mediator role of divergent aspects of perceived social support (family, friends, and significant other) in the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and suicide tendency. Conveniently selected 641 college students (430 female, 211 male) living in the different regions of Turkey constituted the sample of the present study. The findings indicated that perceived family, friends, and significant other support mediated the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and suicide tendency, with perceived family support being the strongest mediator. The entire model explained 51% of the variance in suicide tendency among college students. Regarding suicide tendency, males reported significantly higher scores than females. Our findings underscore that although difficulties in emotion regulation posed a significant risk factor for suicide tendency, perceived social support from family, friends, and significant other remained resilience factors that highlight the need to promote university students’ social support systems.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

The codes/syntax file generated for statistical analyses in SPSS and AMOS are available upon request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Sciences, Bartın University, Kutlubeyyazıcılar, 74100, Bartın, Turkey

    Berkan Demir

  2. Department of Educational Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Dumlupınar Street No:1, 06800, Ankara, Turkey

    Zeynep Hatipoğlu Sümer

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  1. Berkan Demir
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  2. Zeynep Hatipoğlu Sümer
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Correspondence to Berkan Demir.

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This study was approved by the Middle East Technical University Human Subject Ethics Committee (Issue: 28,620,816/622). 

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The current study is part of the first author’s MSc. thesis submitted to the Department of Educational Sciences/Middle East Technical University in August 2019 under the supervision of the co-author.

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Demir, B., Sümer, Z.H. The mediator role of perceived social support in the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and suicide tendency. Curr Psychol 42, 22496–22505 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03347-w

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