Abstract: In the 1980s, scholars began to study reasons of living. As one of the protective factors of suicide, reasons of living is individual's survival positive cognition to avoid the suicidal ideation or behavior when they face setbacks. Linehan first carried out the relevant research. On the basis of predecessors' research, he developed the corresponding assessment tool — The Inventory of Reasons for Living (RFL) which is based on the cognitive behavior theory. And now it is widely used in crisis intervention researches of various cultural backgrounds. However, there is a lack of research on the reasons for living in China. Based on combing the related researches, this paper reviewed the research progress in recent years, including: methods and tools, related researches and application, influence factors, and so on, which proposes the future research direction.