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 5 / 16 higher perceived expectations. The scale has good internal consistency, Cronbach’s α = .70 [13] and shows excellent reliability in this study among samples from Malaysia (α = .91), Singapore (α = .91), and Australia (α = .91). Psychache. The Scale of Psychache [47] is a 13-item scale that examines the degree of psychological pain. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Never or strongly disagree) to 5 (Always or strongly agree), with higher scores indicating greater psychological pain. The scale has good internal consistency, Cronbach’s α = .92 [47] and shows excellent reliability in this study among samples from Malaysia (α = .96), Singapore (α = .95), and Australia (α = .96) Hopelessness. The Brief Hopelessness Scale [48] is a 6-item scale that measures hopelessness. Items are rated by either ‘agree’ (scored 1) or ‘disagree’ (scored 0). Responses are summed with higher scores indicating a higher degree of hopelessness, with good internal consistency Cronbach’s α = .75 [48] and show excellent reliability in this study among samples from Malaysia (α = .84), Singapore (α = .84), and Australia (α = .83). Academic burnout. Study Burnout Inventory [49] is a 9-item scale that examines burnout in higher education across three dimensions: exhaustion, cynicism, and inadequacy. Items are rated on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Completely disagree) to 6 (Completely agree), with higher scores indicating higher degrees of study burnout with good

internal consistency with ranges from Cronbach’s α = .83 to.85 [49] and show excellent reliability in this study among samples from Malaysia (α = .89), Singapore (α = .87), and Australia (α = .89) Suicide ideation. The Suicide Ideation Scale [50] is a 10-item scale that examines suicidal ideation across two domains: passive and active using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Never or none of the time) to 5 (Always or a great many times), with higher cumulative scores indicating more intense suicidal ideation. The scale has good internal consistency, Cronbach’s α = .86 [51] and shows excellent reliability in this study among samples from Malaysia (α = .92), Singapore (α = .94), and Australia (α = .95) Procedure This cross-sectional study was hosted on Qualtrics, where participants were presented with the study information page, consent form, the five self-report instruments, and a participant support document that included details for free psycho- logical support services in Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia, respectively. The study was advertised and disseminated through online student forums, social media, and email correspondences to higher education institutions in Malaysia, Sin- gapore, and Australia. Given the sensitive nature of the study, participants were made aware of the risks of distress in the Information document and were provided with contact details of free psychological support services in respective coun- tries in the support document. The 15-minute study was in English and approved by the James Cook University Human Research Ethics Committee (H8552).

Table 1. Participant demographic details. Characteristics Malaysia (n = 224) Singapore (n = 200) Australia (n = 217) Age (M, SD) 21.14 ± 2.59 21.96 ± 5.59 21.12 ± 3.04 Type of Higher Education Institution Public 18.30% 32% 72.80% Private 81.70% 68% 27.30% Course of Study Foundation/Pre-University 28.10% 1% 0.50% Diploma/Polytechnic 1.30% 7.50% 5.50% Undergraduate/Bachelor’s degree 66.50% 90% 89.90% Others (e.g., Master’s, Doctorate) 4.00% 1.50% 4.10% https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0337831.t001