[Association between adaptation and anxiety/depression among medical freshmen in Wuhu in 2022: The mediating role of negative emotion regulation self-efficacy].
To investigate the relationship between college adaptation, emotion regulation self-efficacy, and anxiety/depression among medical freshmen, and to analyze the mediating role of emotion regulation self-efficacy in the association between adaptation and mental health, providing evidence for targeted psychological interventions.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2022 using a stratified cluster random sampling, involving 1866 medical freshmen from two colleges in Wuhu City, Anhui Province. The student adaptation to College Questionnaire, Self-Regulation of Emotion Self-Efficacy Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2, and Patient Health Questionnaire-2 were used to assess adaptation, emotion regulation self-efficacy, anxiety, and depression, respectively. Pearson correlations analysis was conducted to examine the associations between medical freshmen's college adaptation, emotion regulation self-efficacy, and anxiety/depression. Subsequently, bias-corrected Bootstrap mediation analysis(5000 resamples) was employed to test the mediating role of emotion regulation self-efficacy in the relationship between college adaptation and anxiety/depression.
The average age of the 1866 surveyed medical freshmen was(18.78±1.23) years old, with 727 males(39.0%) and 1139 females(61.0%). The prevalence rates of anxiety and depression were 11.68%(218/1866) and 12.33%(230/1866), respectively. The overall adaptation score of medical freshmen was 3.46±0.51, with the lowest score observed in learning adaptation(3.21±0.67). College adaptation demonstrated significantly negative correlations with anxiety/depression(r=-0.482 and-0.505, P<0.01), and positive associations with expressive positive emotion self-efficacy and regulatory negative emotion self-efficacy(r=0.412, r=0.467, both P<0.01). Positive emotion regulation efficacy and negative emotion management efficacy demonstrated significant negative correlations with anxiety scores(r=-0.205, r=-0.358) and depression scores(r=-0.246, r=-0.345), respectively(P<0.01). Mediation analysis demonstrated that regulatory negative emotion self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between adaptation and anxiety(indirect effect β=-0.083, SE=0.013, 95%CI-0.109 to-0.059; proportion mediated: 16%) and depression(β=-0.068, SE=0.013, 95%CI-0.093 to-0.043; proportion mediated: 13%).
Medical freshmen's adaptation and emotion regulation self-efficacy are closely related to anxiety and depressive emotions. Adaptation can not only directly and negatively predict the levels of anxiety and depression, but also indirectly reduce psychological risks by enhancing the self-efficacy in managing negative emotions.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2022 using a stratified cluster random sampling, involving 1866 medical freshmen from two colleges in Wuhu City, Anhui Province. The student adaptation to College Questionnaire, Self-Regulation of Emotion Self-Efficacy Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2, and Patient Health Questionnaire-2 were used to assess adaptation, emotion regulation self-efficacy, anxiety, and depression, respectively. Pearson correlations analysis was conducted to examine the associations between medical freshmen's college adaptation, emotion regulation self-efficacy, and anxiety/depression. Subsequently, bias-corrected Bootstrap mediation analysis(5000 resamples) was employed to test the mediating role of emotion regulation self-efficacy in the relationship between college adaptation and anxiety/depression.
The average age of the 1866 surveyed medical freshmen was(18.78±1.23) years old, with 727 males(39.0%) and 1139 females(61.0%). The prevalence rates of anxiety and depression were 11.68%(218/1866) and 12.33%(230/1866), respectively. The overall adaptation score of medical freshmen was 3.46±0.51, with the lowest score observed in learning adaptation(3.21±0.67). College adaptation demonstrated significantly negative correlations with anxiety/depression(r=-0.482 and-0.505, P<0.01), and positive associations with expressive positive emotion self-efficacy and regulatory negative emotion self-efficacy(r=0.412, r=0.467, both P<0.01). Positive emotion regulation efficacy and negative emotion management efficacy demonstrated significant negative correlations with anxiety scores(r=-0.205, r=-0.358) and depression scores(r=-0.246, r=-0.345), respectively(P<0.01). Mediation analysis demonstrated that regulatory negative emotion self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between adaptation and anxiety(indirect effect β=-0.083, SE=0.013, 95%CI-0.109 to-0.059; proportion mediated: 16%) and depression(β=-0.068, SE=0.013, 95%CI-0.093 to-0.043; proportion mediated: 13%).
Medical freshmen's adaptation and emotion regulation self-efficacy are closely related to anxiety and depressive emotions. Adaptation can not only directly and negatively predict the levels of anxiety and depression, but also indirectly reduce psychological risks by enhancing the self-efficacy in managing negative emotions.