Uncovering the mechanism linking education expectation and suicide ideation among students in tertiary education: The mediating role of academic burnout, psychache, and hopelessness

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0337831 December 18, 2025 13 / 16 and Australia. Nonetheless, further research examining sociocultural variance and influence on parental expectations and its psychological impact should go beyond the Eastern-Western cultural dyad and explore other sociocultural elements (e.g., immigration status). Strengths and limitations This study is the first to examine the mechanism linking educational expectations to suicide ideation among tertiary stu- dents based on theory, as most studies have only drawn associations between educational expectations and suicide. The study also utilized a multidimensional instrument to examine the effect of different sources of perceived expectations on suicide risk, in addition to exploring the effect of high expectations on suicide across three different cultures. Limitations include not accounting for the ethnic, racial, and cultural demography of the students in each sample group, as our study was only interested in the perceived expectations of tertiary students in each country. Given the sampling limitations, cau- tion should be taken in generalizing the findings. Future research should utilize a more representative technique to sample university student populations. As suicide ideation was the outcome variable, there may also be inaccuracies in responses by participants, as suicide is considered taboo, especially in Malaysia and Singapore [64,65]. Furthermore, cross-cultural

validation and reliability of the instruments used in this study across Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia need to be exam- ined further. Conclusion This study sought to explain the underlying mechanism between educational expectations and suicide ideation. Our find- ings revealed a significant serial mediating effect of academic burnout through psychache and hopelessness to suicide ideation for models with self-expectation and parental expectation across all samples. Therefore, we have demonstrated that there is no direct link between high educational expectations and suicide ideation. Rather, the link between edu- cational expectations and suicide ideation is complex. Future studies should examine the interaction of factors such as personality and meaning in life toward the development of suicidal ideation. Similarly, alternative models that examine the moderating role of burnout, psychache, and hopelessness may help identify high-risk students and better inform suicide prevention efforts among tertiary students. Author contributions Conceptualization: Izzat Morshidi. Data curation: Izzat Morshidi. Formal analysis: Izzat Morshidi. Investigation: Izzat Morshidi. Methodology: Izzat Morshidi. Software: Peter K. H. Chew, Lidia Suarez. Supervision: Peter K. H. Chew, Lidia Suarez. Writing – original draft: Izzat Morshidi. Writing – review & editing: Izzat Morshidi, Peter K. H. Chew, Lidia Suarez. References 1. Tandon R, Nathani MK. Increasing suicide rates across Asia- a public health crisis. Asian J Psychiatr. 2018;36:A2–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.

ajp.2018.09.006 PMID: 30290921 2. Mortier P, Cuijpers P, Kiekens G, Auerbach RP, Demyttenaere K, Green JG, et al. The prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviours among col- lege students: a meta-analysis. Psychol Med. 2018;48(4):554–65. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291717002215 PMID: 28805169