Parental psychological control, socially prescribed perfectionism, depression, and suicidal ideation among university students: a chain mediation model

Suicide represents a pressing public health issue for college students worldwide, with suicidal ideation often viewed as a central psychological marker. Alongside emotional risks such as depression, family dynamics like parental psychological control and cognitive patterns such as socially prescribed perfectionism may relate to elevated suicidal ideation. Drawing on the stress susceptibility model, this study examines how parental psychological control corresponds to suicidal ideation in college students and further tests whether socially prescribed perfectionism and depression jointly form a sequential indirect association. Using a class-based convenience sampling approach with random selection of students within participating classes, we collected 852 valid responses from several universities (52.20% male, 47.80% female). Participants completed a parental psychological control scale, a socially prescribed perfectionism scale, a depression scale, and a suicidal ideation scale. We conducted chain mediation analyses with Model 6 of the PROCESS 4.0 macro in SPSS 26.0. Parental psychological control was positively associated with suicidal ideation (β = 0.151, p < 0.001). In addition, a sequential mediation process involving socially prescribed perfectionism and depression yielded a significant indirect association between parental psychological control and suicidal ideation (β = 0.035, 95% CI [0.024, 0.048]). This sequential mediation represented 13.619% of the total association. Parental psychological control is indirectly related to suicidal ideation through the sequential roles of socially prescribed perfectionism and depression. The findings highlight a cognitive–emotional pattern of associations between family environments and college students’ mental health and provide theoretical and practical implications for suicide-prevention efforts in higher education.