The Relationship Between Resilience and Mental Health in Chinese College Students: A Longitudinal Cross-Lagged Analysis

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Yin Wu¹  Zhi-qin Sang¹  Xiao-Chi Zhang³  Jürgen Margraf³ 

[1] Department of Psychology, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University;Students Affairs Department, Mental Health Education and Counseling Center, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics;Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Mental Health Research and Treatment Center, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

关键词: mental ill-being;    positive mental health;    resilience;    cross-lagged analysis;    college students;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00108

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The relationship between resilience and mental health was examined in three phases over 4 years in a sample of 314 college students in China. The present study aimed to gain insight into the reciprocal relationship of higher levels of resilience predicting lower levels of mental ill-being, and higher levels of positive mental health, and vice versa, and track changes in both resilience, mental ill-being and positive mental health over 4 years. We used the Depression Anxiety Stress, the Positive Mental Health, and the Resilience Scales. Results revealed that first-year students and senior year students experienced higher negative mental health levels and lower positive mental health levels than junior year students. Cross-lagged structural equation modeling analyses showed that resilience could significantly predict mental health status in the short term, namely within 1 year from junior to senior year. However, the predicting function of resilience for mental health is not significant in the long term, namely within 2 years from freshman to junior year. Additionally, the significant predicting function of individuals’ mental health for resilience is fully verified for both the short and long term. These results indicate that college mental health education and interventions could be tailored based on students’ year in college.

【 授权许可】

CC BY