ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study was done to examine whether risk of suicidal ideation in nursing students as related to social support and ego-resilience, and whether subjective wellbeing mediated the relationships. METHODS: Structural equation modeling was applied to test the model in which ego-resilience and social support from family, friends, and others were considered as exogenous variables and subjective wellbeing as a mediating variable. The participants were 285 nursing students who completed self-report measures including the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Ego-Resiliency Scale, and the Index of Wellbeing. RESULTS: Results show that higher scores on family support and ego-resilience were positively associated with subjective wellbeing and negatively with suicidal ideation. Subjective wellbeing mediated the relationships between family support and suicidal ideation, and also ego-resilience and suicidal ideation. Among the three social supports, only family social support had both direct and indirect effects on suicidal ideation. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that family support is a useful resource in the prevention of suicidal ideation in nursing students and building supportive relationship with family should be considered as the first step in suicide prevention strategies. Also enhancing ego-resilience could play an important role to reduce suicide risk through promoting well-being.