The purpose of this study was to investigate the structural relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and suicidal ideation through the mediating effect of thwarted belongingness and psychache of undergraduates. The presumption of this study, based on relevant theory and research, is that the two mediators, thwarted belongingness and psychache may serve as vulnerable factors, thereby facilitating suicidal ideation. The study sample was 756 university students in Daegu city and Gyeongbuk province. The students completed questionnaires including Socially Prescribed Perfectionism, Thwarted Belongingness, Psychache and Suicidal Ideation. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient, factor analysis and Structural Equation Model(SEM) with SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 20.0 programs. Finally the Sobel''s test was used for clarifying the significance of mediating effects.
The study results were as follows:
First, the correlation coefficients among socially prescribed perfectionism, suicidal ideation, thwarted belongingness, and psychache were statistically significant.
Second, mediated by thwarted belongingness, socially prescribed perfectionism had indirect effects on suicidal ideation.
Third, mediated by psychache, socially prescribed perfectionism had indirect effects on suicidal ideation.
Finally, socially prescribed perfectionism affected suicidal ideation via thwarted belongingness and psychache. These mediation effects were verified as statistically significant. It means that thwarted belongingness and psychache are mediating factors between socially prescribed perfectionism and suicidal ideation.
In this study, it was confirmed that thwarted belongingness and psychache acts as a mediating variable between socially prescribed perfectionism and suicidal ideation. Based on these results, intervention for prevention from undergraduates'' suicide ideation as well as suggestion for future research in this area were discussed.