scholarly journals The Effect of Social Support and Emotional Intelligence on Mental Health of University Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (II) ◽  
pp. 310-316
Author(s):  
Kamran Shair
Author(s):  
Carla Barros ◽  
Ana Sacau-Fontenla

Due to the demanding changes caused in the population by the COVID-19 pandemic, including a persisting experience of fear and social isolation, multiple studies have focused on the protective role of several psychological characteristics on mental health. Emotional intelligence and social support are commonly linked to mental health and well-being. The present study aims to analyze the mediator role of emotional intelligence and social support on university students’ mental health, taking into consideration the role of gender differences. An online questionnaire was administered to a sample of 923 university students during the COVID-19 lockdown in Portugal. Significant gender differences were found on mental health symptoms, emotional intelligence, and social support. A double mediation model was computed to verify if gender influences on mental health were mediated by emotional intelligence and social support. The results show indirect effects of gender on mental health. However, as both mediators mediate in the opposite direction, the total indirect effects become null. Thus, a strong direct effect of gender on mental health remains. The results of the present study have theoretical implications on protective factors of mental health by gender and practical implications for psychological intervention in university counselling services.


Author(s):  
José Luis Rodríguez-Sáez ◽  
Luis J. Martín-Antón ◽  
Alfonso Salgado-Ruiz ◽  
Miguel Ángel Carbonero

This descriptive and transversal study, carried out on an intentional sample of 211 subjects who were split in terms of their consumption of psychoactive substances over the last month and who were aged between 18 and 28 (M = 21.36, and SD = 1.90), aimed to explore the emotional intelligence, perceived socio-family support and academic performance of university students vis-à-vis their consumption of drugs and to examine the link between them. The goal was to define university student consumer profile through a regression model using the multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (EMAS) and the Trait Meta Mood Scale-24 (TMMS-24) as instruments, together with academic performance and gender. The results report alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis consumption rates that are above the levels indicated by the Spanish household survey on alcohol and drugs in Spain (EDADES 2019) for the 15–34-year-old age range in Castilla y León. A certain link was observed between the consumption of substances and academic performance, although no differences were seen in academic performance in terms of consumer type. There was also no clear link observed between emotional intelligence and academic performance or between social support and academic performance. The predictive contribution of the variables included in the regression model was low (9%), which would advocate completing the model with other predictive variables until more appropriate predictability conditions can be found.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiyun Chu ◽  
Yanjie Yang ◽  
Jiawei Zhou ◽  
Wenbo Wang ◽  
Xiaohui Qiu ◽  
...  

Background: World Health Organization recognizes suicide as a public health priority. This study aimed to investigate the risk life events which led university students to consider suicide and explore the protective mechanism of social support (including subjective support, objective support, and support utilization) on suicide risk.Methods: Three thousand nine hundred and seventy-two university students were recruited in Harbin, China. Social Support Rating Scale, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the 25-item scale of suicide acceptability were used to collect participants' information. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and mediation analysis were employed for statistical analysis.Results: “Drug addict,” “infected with HIV,” and “incurable illness” were the top three events that led university students to consider suicide. Social support played an important protective role against suicide risk. Subjective support and support utilization had total effects on suicide acceptability, including direct and indirect effects. Anxiety (indirect effect = −0.022, 95% CI = −0.037 ~ −0.009) and depressive symptoms (indirect effect = −0.197, 95% CI = −0.228 ~ −0.163) mediated the relationship between subjective support and suicide acceptability; meanwhile, the association between support utilization and suicide acceptability was mediated by anxiety (indirect effect = −0.054, 95% CI = −0.088 ~ −0.024) and depressive symptoms (indirect effect = −0.486, 95% CI = −0.558 ~ −0.422). However, the protective impact of objective support worked totally through decreasing anxiety (indirect effect = −0.018, 95% CI = −0.035 ~ −0.006) and depressive symptoms (indirect effect = −0.196, 95% CI = −0.246 ~ −0.143). Moreover, the mediation effects of depressive symptoms had stronger power than anxiety in the impact of social support on suicide risk.Conclusions: Among Chinese university students, suicide acceptability was elevated when there was a health scare. Social support effectively reduced suicide risk via decreasing anxiety and depressive symptoms. From the mental health perspective, families, peers, teachers, and communities should work together to establish a better social support system for university students, if necessary, help them to seek professional psychological services.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shufang Sun ◽  
Simon B. Goldberg ◽  
Danhua Lin ◽  
Shan Qiao ◽  
Don Operario

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has made unprecedented impact on the psychological health of university students, a population vulnerable to distress and mental health disorders. This study investigated psychiatric symptoms (anxiety, depression, and traumatic stress) during state-enforced quarantine among university students in China (N = 1912) through a cross-sectional survey during March and April 2020. Results Psychiatric symptoms were alarmingly prevalent: 67.05% reported traumatic stress, 46.55% had depressive symptoms, and 34.73% reported anxiety symptoms. Further, 19.56% endorsed suicidal ideation. We explored risk and protective factors of psychological health, including demographic variables, two known protective factors for mental health (mindfulness, perceived social support), four COVID-specific factors (COVID-19 related efficacy, perceived COVID-19 threat, perceived COVID-19 societal stigma, COVID-19 prosocial behavior) and screen media usage. Across symptom domains, mindfulness was associated with lower symptom severity, while COVID-19 related financial stress, perceived COVID-19 societal stigma, and perceived COVID-19 threat were associated with higher symptom severity. COVID-19 threat and COVID-19 stigma showed main and interactive effects in predicting all mental health outcomes, with their combination associated with highest symptom severity. Screen media device usage was positively associated with depression. Female gender and COVID-19 prosocial behavior were associated with higher anxiety, while COVID-19 self-efficacy associated with lower anxiety symptoms. Conclusions Findings suggest high need for psychological health promotion among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic and inform an ecological perspective on the detrimental role of stigma during an emerging infectious disease outbreak. Interventions targeting multi-level factors, such as promoting mindfulness and social support at individual and interpersonal levels while reducing public stigma about COVID-19, may be particularly promising. Attending to the needs of disadvantaged groups including those financially impacted by COVID-19 is needed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang-Jiang Zhou ◽  
Lei-Lei Wang ◽  
Meng Qi ◽  
Xing-Jie Yang ◽  
Lan Gao ◽  
...  

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has seriously threatened the global public health security and caused a series of mental health problem. Current research focuses mainly on mental health status and related factors in the COVID-19 pandemic among Chinese university students. Data from 11133 participants was obtained through an online survey. The Patient Health Question-9 (PHQ-9) was used to assess depressive symptoms, the Social Support Rate Scale (SSRS) was used to assess social support. We also used 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) to assess anxiety symptoms. Totally, 37.0% of the subjects were experiencing depressive symptoms, 24.9% anxiety symptoms, 20.9% comorbid depressive and anxiety symptoms, and 7.3% suicidal ideation. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed an increased presence of mental health problems in female students, graduate students, and those with personal COVID-19 exposure. Awareness of COVID-19, living with family were protective factors that reduced anxiety and depression symptoms. In addition, male, personal COVID-19 exposure, depressive and anxiety symptoms were risk factors for suicidal ideation. Social support, COVID-19 preventive and control measures, prediction of COVID-19 trends, living with family and graduate students are protective factors for reducing suicidal ideation.


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