Negative social interpretation bias and suicidality: Indirect pathways through social anxiety and perceived...

Social anxiety has been linked to suicidality through thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness, consistent with the interpersonal psychological theory of suicide. Broader underlying cognitive vulnerabilities, such as biased perceptions of social situations, may also play a role. This study examined whether negative social interpretation bias predicted suicidality via social anxiety symptoms and unmet interpersonal needs (i.e., thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and their interaction).

Undergraduate participants (N = 325) recruited from a large southern U.S. university completed online self-report measures and a social interpretation bias task. A path analysis tested indirect effects of social interpretation bias on suicidality through social anxiety and unmet interpersonal needs (i.e., thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and their interaction). Depression symptoms were included as a covariate.

Negative social interpretation bias was indirectly associated with suicidality via social anxiety symptoms and perceived burdensomeness, β = .070, p = .003, controlling for depression symptoms. The total indirect effect of interpretation bias on suicidality was significant (β = .068, p = .001), whereas the total effect was not (β = .041, p = .434). The direct effect of interpretation bias on suicidality was also not significant, β = -.028, p = .554.

These findings suggest that negative social interpretation bias is indirectly associated with suicidality through social anxiety and perceived burdensomeness. Together, these results are consistent with a pathway in which cognitive biases, affective distress, and interpersonal beliefs jointly contribute to suicidality. Notably, effects remained significant when depression symptoms were controlled, suggesting that social anxiety may have a unique association with suicide risk beyond depression. These results help clarify the link between social anxiety and suicidality, a relationship that remains relatively understudied.