Negative life events and mental health of Chinese medical students: the effect of resilience, personality and social support

Abstract

The present study was conducted on a large sample of Chinese medical students to test the moderating effect of resilience between negative life events and mental health problems, and investigate the factors that affect the mental health problems of the students. The Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Check List, Eysenck Adult Personality Questionnaire-Revised, Social Support Rating Scale, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and Symptom Check List were adopted for a survey with 1,998 Chinese medical students as respondents. Mental health problems had a positive correlation with negative life events and neuroticism. On the other hand, mental health problems had a negative correlation with social support, extraversion, and resilience. Regression analysis showed that resilience moderated negative life events and mental health problems. Promoting resilience may be helpful for the adjustment of college students.