MODERATING EFFECT OF HARDINESS ON THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS AND PERCEIVED STRESS WITH SUICIDAL IDEATION IN NURSING STUDENTS

Recent evidence indicates an elevated risk of suicidal ideation for undergraduate nursing students. This research was designed to enhance the understanding of suicidal ideation in nursing students by investigating the relationships between problem-solving skills, perceived stress, hardiness, and suicidal ideation, with the possibility of hardiness acting as a moderator in the relationships between problem-solving skills appraisal and perceived stress with suicidal ideation. A multi-stage cluster random sample of Malaysian nursing undergraduate students (N = 204) completed self-report questionnaires. The results of structural equation modelling revealed that poor problem-solving skills, greater levels of perceived stress, and low levels of hardiness predicted greater levels of suicidal ideation. Also, hardiness emerged as a moderator in the links between problem-solving skills appraisal and perceived stress with suicidal ideation. The findings incrementally improve our understanding about the importance of hardiness as a moderator in explaining how problem-solving skills and perceived stress affect suicidal ideation. The results of this study are obtained from Malaysian nursing students and possible generalization to other populations should be verified by further studies.