BackgroundExisting evidence suggests that children and adolescents who had experienced childhood maltreatment (CM) are at higher suicidal risk. However, the mediation role of resilience in this association remains unclear. We aim to investigate the mediation via resilience in the associations between CM and three suicidal risk indicators (suicidal ideation, SI; suicidal plan, SP; suicidal attempt, SA) among a large sample of Chinese children and adolescents.MethodsA population-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in southwestern China Yunnan province. A total of 9723 children and adolescents were included and analyzed by using a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling design. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to explore the associations between CM, resilience, and the three suicidal risk indicators, dose-response trends further elucidated by using the restricted cubic splines. Path models were adopted to estimate the mediation of resilience.ResultsThe estimated prevalence rates for one-year SI, SP and SA were 32.86% (95% CI: 31.93-33.80%), 19.36% (95% CI: 18.57-20.16%) and 9.07% (95% CI: 8.51-9.66%). After adjustment, CM significantly associated with all 3 suicidal risk indicators, and the odds ratios (ORs) were 2.13 (95% CI: 1.91-2.37), 2.45 (95% CI: 2.13-2.81), and 3.61 (95% CI: 2.90-4.52) for one-year SI, SP, and SA, respectively. Path models revealed that resilience significantly mediated the associations between CM and the three suicidal risk indicators, and among all dimensions of resilience, family support presented the strongest mediation consistently.ConclusionsOur study results suggest that intervention measures which focusing on improving psychological resilience might be effective in reducing suicidal risk for children and adolescents who had experienced maltreatment. Prospective studies should be done to corroborate our findings.