Follow-up Study of Depression and Suicide Risk among College Students: Moderating Role of Parent-child Relationships

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the bidirectional predictive relationship between depression and suicide risk among college students through a longitudinal design, while examining the moderating role of parentchild relationships. Methods: A one-year interval assessment was conducted on 806 college students (37.1% male, average age 19.24 ± 0.66 years) at a university in Shandong Province. The Chinese College Student Mental Health Assessment Questionnaire measured participants’ depression and suicide risk, while the revised Parent-Child Affinity Scale evaluated parent-child relationships. Cross-Regression Models were constructed using Mplus to analyze variable interactions, with PROCESS analysis further examined moderating effects. Results: (1) Significant simultaneous and time-series positive correlations were observed between depression and suicide risk; (2) Pre-test depression significantly predicted post-test suicide risk, but the reverse prediction was not statistically significant; (3) Parent-child relationships significantly moderated the predictive effect of depression on suicide risk. Conclusion: Depression serves as a significant antecedent variable for college students’ suicide risk, capable of predicting suicidal tendencies one year later. This highlights the necessity for long-term interventions targeting students with depressive mood. The validation of parentalchild relationship moderation further underscores the importance of home-school collaboration in university mental health initiatives.