Is er een relatie tussen het gevoel van mastery en suïcidaliteit bij adolescente jongens en meisjes en wordt dit gemodereerd door perfectionisme?

Abstract

Background: Previous research shows that adolescents who experience a high level of mastery, show fewer suicidal behaviors. Mastery is the feeling that someone can influence their life. Prior studies also showed that perfectionism strengthened the effect of mastery on mental health problems. However, no research has investigated this effect on suicidal behaviors or among adolescent samples. Aim: Current study examined the relationship between mastery and suicidal behaviors and the influence of perfectionism on this relationship among adolescents. Method: Participants consisted of 1444 high school studentsaged11-15 years (M = 13.9, SD = 0.5) from 15 schools in Zuidoost- Brabant. They completed questionnaires about suicidal behaviors, mastery and perfectionism. A multiple hierarchic regression was used to test for moderation. This was a cross-sectional study. Results: There was a significant negative relation between mastery and suicidal behaviors. Perfectionism was a significant moderator on this relationship. When there was a low sense of mastery, there were more suicidal behaviors while perfectionism was added. The effect of mastery was enhanced by perfectionism. Discussion: Current study shows that a low sense of mastery is associated with higher levels of suicidal behaviors, while a high sense of mastery can function as a possible protective factor for suicidal behaviors. Perfectionism acts as a moderator, strengthening the relationship between mastery and suicidal behaviors. This was in line with hypotheses. For clinical practice it is important to take perfectionism and mastery into account while working with adolescences with suicidality. Longitudinal research is needed to make conclusions regarding causality.