Friendship quality and suicidal ideation : the role of negative interpersonal beliefs

Abstract

Friendship quality has been consistently linked to decreased suicidal ideation (Adrian et al., 2016; Mueller et al., 2022; Stephanie & Chen, 2020), but the protective mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. Drawing on the interpersonal theory of suicide (Van Orden et al., 2010), a possible explanation is that close friendships are incompatible with thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness–negative interpersonal beliefs that have been robustly linked to suicidal ideation (Chu et al., 2017). This cross-sectional study recruited an online sample (N = 234) to examine whether thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness mediated the association between friendship quality and suicidal ideation, after controlling for neuroticism. We found support for this parallel mediation model: higher friendship quality was associated with reduced thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness, and in turn, with decreased suicidal ideation. Friendship quality was more strongly associated with thwarted belongingness (β = -0.49, p < .001) than perceived burdensomeness (β = -0.26, p < .001) after controlling for neuroticism. Additional analyses found that the interaction between thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness mediated the association between friendship quality and suicidal ideation above and beyond its direct effect. These findings are consistent with the interpersonal theory of suicide and highlight how existing friendships may be leveraged within suicide prevention.