The Effect of Social Support on Depression among Economically Disadvantaged College Students: The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience and the Moderating Role of Geography

Xianglian Yu; Fen Xiong; Hanbing Zhang; Zhihong Ren; Lianzhong Liu; Lin Zhang; Zongkui Zhou

doi:10.3390/ijerph20043053

The Effect of Social Support on Depression among Economically Disadvantaged College Students: The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience and the Moderating Role of Geography

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 9;20(4):3053. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20043053.

Authors

Xianglian Yu^{1

2

3

4}, Fen Xiong^{1

3

4}, Hanbing Zhang⁵, Zhihong Ren^{1

3

4}, Lianzhong Liu⁶, Lin Zhang^{1

3

4}, Zongkui Zhou^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China.
² Department of Education, Jianghan University, Wuhan 430056, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan 430079, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, Wuhan 430079, China.
⁵ School of Psychology, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350108, China.
⁶ Wuhan Mental Health Center, Wuhan 430022, China.

Abstract

The study examined the influence of social support on depression, including the mediating role of psychological resilience and the moderating role of geography. Questionnaires were completed by 424 economically disadvantaged college students in two provinces, X, a coastal province, and Y, an inland province. The results indicated that (1) the social support of economically disadvantaged college students was positively correlated to psychological resilience (β = 0.62, t = 11.22, p < 0.001); (2) the psychological resilience of economically disadvantaged college students was negatively correlated with depression (β = -0.24, t = -10.3, p < 0.001); (3) the social support of economically disadvantaged college students was negatively correlated with depression (β = -0.08, t = -2.85, p < 0.001); (4) the psychological resilience of economically disadvantaged college students played a partial mediating role between social support and depression; and (5) geography played a moderating role in the effect of social support on depression.

Keywords: depression; economically disadvantaged college students; moderated mediation; psychological resilience; social support.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Depression* / psychology
Geography
Humans
Resilience, Psychological*
Social Support
Students / psychology

Grants and funding

The research was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Number: 2021M691184), the open project of the Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior of the Ministry of Education: 2019A04, self-determined research funds of CCNU from the college’s basic research and operation of MOE (Number: No. CCNU20TD001), the Research Project of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission (Number: 20dz2260300) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and by the Faculty Development Funds of Central China Normal University (Number: 0900-31101210201).