Psychological Capital and Its Factors as Mediators Between Interpersonal Sensitivity and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Undergraduates

Abstract

Xin Liu,1– 3,* Zhen Wang,1,* Chaoran Zhang,1 Jingwen Xu,4 Ziheng Shen,4 Lixin Peng,1 Yanyan Mi,2,3 Haibo Xu1– 3 1School of Management, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221004, People’s Republic of China; 2Center for Mental Health Education and Research, Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221004, People’s Republic of China; 3Research Center for Psychological Crisis Prevention and Intervention of College Students in Jiangsu Province, Xuzhou medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221004, People’s Republic of China; 4The Second Clinical Medical School, Xuzhou medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221004, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Haibo Xu; Yanyan Mi, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Current interpersonal sensitivity among college students is easily linked to mood disorders such as anxiety, depression and other mood disorders. This study aims to examine the mediating role of psychological capital and its dimensions in the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and depressive symptoms among undergraduates.Methods: The cross-sectional survey was conducted by using cluster stratified random sampling method across six Chinese universities between November and December 2022. The questionnaire consists of the Interpersonal Sensitivity sub-scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire and the Socio-Demographic Feature Questionnaire.Results: A total of 2580 respondents participated in the survey, with the majority being females (69.73%) and an average age of 19.22± 1.28 years. Descriptive and correlation analyses were performed using SPSS v24.0, while direct and indirect effects were analyzed using PROCESS v3.4 macro. The findings revealed that interpersonal sensitivity had a significant direct effect on depression symptoms among undergraduates (β =0.416, 95% Boot CI [0.380, 0.453], p < 0.001) Additionally, psychological capital and its components were found to be negatively correlated with depression (p < 0.001). Further analysis demonstrated that hope, optimism, and resilience significantly mediated the association between interpersonal sensitivity and depressive symptoms (indirect effect: hope = 0.056, optimism = 0.074, resilience = 0.099; p < 0.001 for all).Conclusion: These results suggest that psychological capital, including its dimensions of hope, optimism, and resilience plays a crucial role in mitigating the negative effects of interpersonal sensitivity on depressive symptoms among undergraduates.Keywords: depressive symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity, psychological capital, Chinese undergraduates, multiple mediation

Keywords

• depressive symptoms
• interpersonal sensitivity
• psychological capital
• chinese undergraduates
• multiple mediation