The association between hope and depression has been studied, leaving the underlying mechanism of how hope might predict depression unexplored. With a cross-sectional design, this study investigated two possible mediating factors in the relationship between hope and depression among Chinese shadow education tutors, who confront a high turnover rate and are at high risk for depression. Altogether, 221 tutors participated in the survey, and reported their dispositional hope, perceived social support (PSS), perceived stress (PS), and depression. Results indicated that both PSS and PS mediated the relationship between hope and depression. Results also supported the hypothesized serial mediating effect. In other words, hope as a positive disposition may promote PSS, which can mitigate PS. The reduced PS, in turn, alleviates depression. This finding not only shed light on the independent and accumulative mediating effects of PSS and PS, but also has implications for preventive interventions among Chinese shadow education tutors experiencing the enormous pressure of instability. This serial mediation model should be confirmed by further longitudinal study.
Keywords: depression; hope; mediation; perceived stress; social support.