Coping Styles, Growth Mindset, Interpersonal Relationships And Suicidal Ideation In Chinese High School Students During COVID-19

Abstract

Abstract Background We sought to understand the associations between growth mindset, interpersonal relationships, coping strategies and suicidal ideation in high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method We surveyed 1564 high school students using the Growth Mindset Scale (GMS), Positive and Negative Suicide Ideation (PANSI), Trait Coping Style Questionnaire (TCSQ) and Interpersonal Relationships. We performed statistical analyses using Spearman’s Rank Order correlation, Mediation Analysis with PROCESS, and Structural Equation Modelling with Amos 23.0 on SPSS. Results We found that growth mindset, interpersonal relationships, coping strategies were all negatively correlated with suicidal ideation (p < 0.01), and growth mindset was positively correlated with both interpersonal relationships and coping strategies (p < 0.01). Hierarchical regression and mediation analyses showed that both growth mindset (β = -0.35, p < 0.01) and interpersonal relationships (β = -0.25, p < 0.01) had a statistically significant negative effect on suicidal ideation. Growth mindset also had a significant effect on interpersonal relationships (β = 0.27, p < 0.01) and had an indirect effect on suicidal ideation (β = -0.42, p < 0.01; effect size of -0.068 (95% CI [-0.088, -0.049])). Using coping strategies as a moderating variable, we observed significant moderation effect of positive coping strategies on the association between growth mindset and suicidal ideation (c = -0.45, t = -15.12**, 95% CI [-0.50, -0.39]). In contrary, negative coping strategies had a significant moderation effect on the association between growth mindset and suicidal ideation (c = -0.15, t = -4.78**, 95% CI [-0.20, -0.09]), and the association between interpersonal relationships and suicidal ideation (c = -0.28, t = -9.98**, 95% CI [-0.33, -0.22]). Conclusions Having a growth mindset can help students have lowered suicidal ideation, and this can be mediated by having better interpersonal relationships and moderated by positive coping strategies. This can inform future interventions for school students to build up students’ psychological resilience and emotional intelligence.