A recurring theme across the articles is the central role of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) as both an independent concern and a potential precursor to suicide. In their study of medical students, Lin et al. examined how social support buffers the impact of negative life events on NSSI. Interestingly, they found that urban students were more vulnerable, exhibiting a more pronounced decline in social support following life stressors than their rural peers, challenging conventional assumptions about urban resource advantages.Gender emerged as another crucial moderator in several studies. Fang et al.revealed that obsessive-compulsive symptoms predict suicide risk in adolescents, mediated by depressive symptoms across genders, with sleep disturbances serving as an additional mediator only in females. Their findings emphasize the need for gendersensitive assessments in adolescent psychiatric care.From a developmental perspective, the work by Goldstein et al. introduced valuable age-based nuance through the lens of the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide.Among females with eating disorders, they found that perceived burdensomeness was a stronger predictor of suicidality in adolescents, whereas thwarted belongingness was more influential among emerging adults. These findings support age-specific interventions, such as enhancing social integration among young adults and focusing on family dynamics in adolescents.The ecological context of youth mental health also received significant attention. We are grateful to all contributing authors for their valuable research and acknowledge the peer reviewers for their constructive feedback in enhancing the work.As Topic Editors, we aim for this collection to inspire future research and to guide interventions that are both compassionate and grounded in evidence.
Hamdan et al. (Thu,) studied this question.