BACKGROUND: Work-family conflicts and daytime sleepiness are related to the risk of suicide. At present, no study has investigated the relationship between nurses' work-family behavioral role conflict and suicide risk. Moreover, it has not been confirmed whether, considering the effect of daytime sleepiness on suicide risk, daytime sleepiness mediates the effect of work-family behavioral role conflict and suicide risk. AIM: To explore the pathway relationships among nurses' work-family behavioral role conflict, daytime sleepiness, and suicide risk. METHODS: Convenience and purposive sampling methods were used to select 750 nurses from six provinces, including Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Shanxi. The work-family behavioral role conflict scale, the Chinese adult daytime sleepiness scale, and the suicide behavior questionnaire were used for the survey. The data were statistically analyzed RESULTS: Nurses' work-family behavioral role conflict and daytime sleepiness were positively correlated with suicide risk ( CONCLUSION: The results of the Pearson correlation analysis and mediation effect analysis revealed that nurses' work-family behavioral role conflict has a direct effect on suicide risk and indirectly affects suicide risk through daytime drowsiness symptoms.