Why do university students have suicidality? The role of family-of-origin, interpersonal needs and experiential avoidance

University students with higher experiential avoidance may not manage the adverse effects of dysfunctional family dynamics and develop interpersonal difficulties and suicidal risks. The purpose was to examine the mediating roles of experiential avoidance and interpersonal needs (i.e., thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness) in the relationship between family-of-origin dynamics and suicidality. Seven hundred ninety-four Turkish university students responded to a survey package measuring the constructs of self-differentiation, triangling, interpersonal needs, experiential avoidance, suicidality, and demographic information. Specific indirect effects -in two separate structural equation models- testing mediation effects of latent variables with bootstrapping revealed that participants with greater self-differentiation reported lower levels of experiential avoidance, perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness (in serial), and suicidality (Model 1). Participants with higher triangling reported higher experiential avoidance, perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness (in serial), and suicidality (Model 2). Perceived burdensomeness might be a predominant predictor of suicidality in the context of intergenerational family dynamics. Suicidality may increase as university students use avoidant coping strategies. The integrative perspective of the current study contributed to the literature that family-of-origin dynamics have a role in understanding the psychological flexibility and suicidal risks of university students. Implications may include assisting university students in greater self-differentiation and psychological flexibility. Mental health specialists may also consider strategies that university students achieve ‘de-triangling’ in their family of origin.