To explore the relationship between suicidal ideation, negative life events, and psychological capital of university students in Jinan. Methods: A total of 499 college students from a university in Jinan were investigated by the Adolescent Self-rating Life Events Scale (ASLEC), Positive Psychological Capital (PPQ), and Self-rating idea of Suicide Scale (SIOSS). Results: The detection rate of suicidal ideation was 8.02% , and there was no gender difference. The scores of negative life events were significantly positively correlated with the suicidal ideation score (r=0.32, P<0.01); psychological capital level was significantly negatively correlated with suicidal ideation (r=－0.60, P<0.01). Bootstrap analysis showed that the mediating effect of psychological capital between negative life events and suicidal ideation accounted for 33.33% of the total variance. Conclusion: The suicidal ideation in these university students is high and is highly correlated with negative life events and individual psychological capital. Psychological capital plays a role in mediating the relationship between negative life events and suicidal ideation.