Asymmetric reverse buffering patterns of source-specific social support in the associations between depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among college students
- 1School of Medicine and Health, Wuhan Polytechnic University , ,
- 2Mental Health Education and Counseling Center, Wuhan Polytechnic University , ,
Abstract
Objective: Suicidal ideation remains a major mental health concern among college students. This study examined whether perceived social support from family, friends, and significant others differentially moderates the associations of depressive and anxiety symptoms with suicidal ideation, with particular attention to a potential asymmetric buffering pattern.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 504 college students using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and Self-Rating Idea of Suicide Scale (SIOSS). Primary analyses used full-sample continuous interaction models in which depressive and anxiety symptoms were entered simultaneously. Robustness was assessed using the PHQ-8, while sensitivity analyses examined depressive and anxiety symptoms separately and further explored the associations across social support subgroups.
Results: After adjustment for demographic covariates, perceived social support from family, friends, and significant others showed significant buffering effects on the positive association between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. In contrast, these sources of social support showed significant positive interaction effects with anxiety symptoms, indicating a reverse-buffering pattern in which higher perceived social support was associated with a stronger positive association between anxiety symptoms and suicidal ideation. The PHQ-8 analysis showed generally consistent interaction patterns. However, the single-predictor and subgroup sensitivity analyses showed attenuation or variability in some interaction effects.
Conclusions: The findings suggest a potentially asymmetric pattern in the moderating role of perceived social support, with conventional buffering observed for depressive symptoms but reverse buffering observed for anxiety symptoms. However, the observed interaction pattern was sensitive to model specification, and the findings should therefore be considered preliminary and require replication in future studies. These results highlight the importance of considering both the source of social support and the specific emotional pathway when examining the relationship between social support and suicidal ideation among college students.
Related
- Yield of Low Serum Vitamin B12 Results in General Pediatric Outpatient Practice: Age-Specific Patterns and Associations with Testing Indications and Recorded Clinical Features
- Elevated homocysteine and non-suicidal self-injury in adolescent depression: possible sex-specific clinical associations
- Time-Variant Patterns of Comorbid Depression and Anxiety Across Early to Late Adolescence: The Sex-Specific Role of Emotion Regulation.
- The Mediating Role of Sleep Quality in Associations of Smartphone Addiction and Time-Specific Use With Prenatal Depression and Anxiety: Cross-Sectional Observational Study.
- Associations of internet use and specific patterns with cognitive function in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis
BibTeX
@article{tian2026asymmetric,
title = {{Asymmetric reverse buffering patterns of source-specific social support in the associations between depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among college students}},
author = {Xiaoxia Tian and Yanli Shi and Pengcheng Wei and Canxue Zhao and Ruimin Cheng and Yalei Zhou},
journal = {Frontiers in psychiatry},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1930307},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13661922},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Asymmetric reverse buffering patterns of source-specific social support in the associations between depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among college students
AU - Xiaoxia Tian
AU - Yanli Shi
AU - Pengcheng Wei
AU - Canxue Zhao
AU - Ruimin Cheng
AU - Yalei Zhou
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
JO - Frontiers in psychiatry
DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1930307
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13661922
AB - Objective: Suicidal ideation remains a major mental health concern among college students. This study examined whether perceived social support from family, friends, and significant others differentially moderates the associations of depressive and anxiety symptoms with suicidal ideation, with particular attention to a potential asymmetric buffering pattern. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 504 college students using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and Self-Rating Idea of Suicide Scale (SIOSS). Primary analyses used full-sample continuous interaction models in which depressive and anxiety symptoms were entered simultaneously. Robustness was assessed using the PHQ-8, while sensitivity analyses examined depressive and anxiety symptoms separately and further explored the associations across social support subgroups. Results: After adjustment for demographic covariates, perceived social support from family, friends, and significant others showed significant buffering effects on the positive association between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. In contrast, these sources of social support showed significant positive interaction effects with anxiety symptoms, indicating a reverse-buffering pattern in which higher perceived social support was associated with a stronger positive association between anxiety symptoms and suicidal ideation. The PHQ-8 analysis showed generally consistent interaction patterns. However, the single-predictor and subgroup sensitivity analyses showed attenuation or variability in some interaction effects. Conclusions: The findings suggest a potentially asymmetric pattern in the moderating role of perceived social support, with conventional buffering observed for depressive symptoms but reverse buffering observed for anxiety symptoms. However, the observed interaction pattern was sensitive to model specification, and the findings should therefore be considered preliminary and require replication in future studies. These results highlight the importance of considering both the source of social support and the specific emotional pathway when examining the relationship between social support and suicidal ideation among college students.
SN - 1664-0640
ER -