The role of hope traits and psychological distressin the effect of childhood abuse on suicidal ideation in Chinese college students

To explore the mediating effects of hope traits and psychological distress in the relationship between childhood abuse and suicidal ideation in college students. A total of 1908 college students were surveyed using the Childhood Abuse Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Adult Dispositional Hope Scale, the SCL-90, and the Suicidal Ideation Self-Rating Scale. The data were screened, SPSS and R software were used to calculate descriptive statistics, and a structural equation model was constructed. Childhood abuse was significantly associated with higher levels of suicidal ideation. Childhood abuse indirectly affected suicidal ideation through hope traits and psychological distress, both individually and via chain mediation, with all indirect effects remaining significant after controlling for direct effects. Childhood abuse can directly positively impact college students’ suicidal ideation, and also indirectly affect it through the mediating effects of hope traits and psychological distress either individually or as a chain.