The relationship between negative school gossip and suicide intention in Chinese junior high school students: The mediating effect of academic burnout and gender difference

Previous studies have shown that negative school gossip are associated with suicide intention, but the psychological mechanism of the relationship is still unclear. We tested the relationship among negative school gossip, academic burnout and suicide intent in junior high school students. A sample of 1811 junior high school students (mean age = 13.22 ± 0.97 years) were enrolled in our survey. The adaption of Negative workplace gossip scale, School burnout inventory, and items of suicidal ideation and frequency of suicide attempts were used to test negative school gossip, academic burnout, and suicide intention. Results showed that negative school gossip positively correlated with suicide intention, and it increased participants’ suicide intention via increasing academic burnout. The results of this study suggest that academic burnout played a partial mediating role between negative school gossip and suicide intention in Chinese junior high school students, and the relationship between academic burnout and adolescents' suicide intention was moderated by gender. The present study revealed the harm of negative school gossip to the development of adolescents and provided empirical supports for the prevention and intervention of adolescent suicide. The limitations and implications were discussed.