Objective: Suicide has become a nonnegligible cause of death among emerging adults, and academic performance is one of the most significant factors in Chinese college students' suicidal ideation. Based on this, we examined the risk and protective sides of perfectionism on suicidal ideation among college students with perceived academic failure experiences.
Method: In the current study, a total of 674 Chinese college students (63.6% females, Mage = 19.96, SD = 1.31) with perceived academic failure in the past six months participated in a survey and completed self-report measures assessing perfectionism, rumination, depression, and suicidal ideation twice with a six-month interval.
Results: Negative perfectionism was a risk factor for suicidal ideation, while positive perfectionism had an opposite effect. In addition, intrusive rumination, deliberate rumination, and depression serially mediated the association between positive/negative perfectionism and suicidal ideation.
Conclusion: The results indicated perfectionism has both positive and negative sides to suicidal ideation. Clinicians might be aware of the risk and protective components of perfectionism when intervening with suicidal ideation among college students with perceived academic failure experiences.
Keywords: Depression; perceived academic failure; perfectionism; rumination; suicidal ideation.
The current study examined the longitudinal association between negative/positive perfectionism and suicidal ideation among college students with perceived academic failure.Negative perfectionism generally acted as a risk factor for suicidal ideation, while positive perfectionism showed the opposite effects.he serial mediation among perfectionism, rumination, depression, and suicidal ideation was formed.