Sense of coherence and subjective well-being: The mediating role of Hope for college students in Turkey

Investigating the mediating influence of distress tolerance on the relationship between existential thinking, sense of coherence, and the severity of mourning among families who lost a loved one to COVID-19: A cross-sectional study

Background and Aims

The objective of the current study was to examine how distress tolerance functions as a mediator in the relationship between existential thinking, sense of coherence, and the severity of mourning experienced by families who have lost a loved one to COVID-19.

Methods

The present study employed a descriptive correlational research design, targeting family members of those who passed away due to COVID-19 in the city of Mianeh in 2022. A sample of 160 individuals was selected for statistical analysis. The research instruments used in this study consisted of Flensberg's sense of coherence questionnaire (2006), Simmons and Gaher's emotional distress tolerance questionnaire (2005), Sugbart and Scott's grief experience questionnaire (1989), and Branton Scherer's existential thinking questionnaire (2006). The collected data were analyzed using path analysis, as well as SPSS and Amos software.

Results

The findings of the study revealed a significant correlation coefficient between existential thinking (r = 0.465), sense of coherence (r = 0.401), and distress tolerance (r = 0.521) with the severity of mourning experienced by families who lost a loved one to COVID-19. Moreover, the results indicated a positive and significant relationship (p > 0.01) between distress tolerance and sense of coherence (r = 0.126), as well as between distress tolerance and existential thinking (r = 0.059) among the bereaved families. However, the bootstrap test results suggested that distress tolerance did not mediate the relationship between sense of coherence and the severity of mourning in the families of COVID-19 victims.

Conclusion

Consistent with prior research, the current study's findings indicated that both existential thinking and sense of coherence had a direct impact on the severity of mourning experienced by families who lost a loved one to COVID-19. Additionally, the results revealed that the influence of existential thinking on the severity of mourning was mediated indirectly by increasing distress tolerance.

Subjective social status and well-being of adolescents and young adults in Ghanaian schools: conditional process analysis

BACKGROUND

With the growing concern and interest in the mental health and well-being of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) including those in schools, many studies have explored the bivariate relationship between subjective social status (SSS) and AYAs' subjective well-being (SWB). Acknowledging the spurious nature of this relationship, we assessed the relationship between SSS and SWB of AYAs in schools within Northern Ghana, focusing on the conditional indirect effect of monetary resource (MR) and sense of coherence (SoC).

METHODS

We utilised a cross-sectional descriptive design to survey 1096 senior high school students from two regions in Ghana's Northern zone through a stratified sampling method. A questionnaire consisting of a number of calibrated standardized measures was used for the data collection. The data were processed using SPSS and PROCESS Macro and analysed using Hayes' conditional process analysis.

RESULTS

The results revealed that students' MR significantly moderated the relationships between SSS and SoC as well as SSS and SWB. A significant moderated mediation effect of MR and SoC on the relationship between SSS and SWB was found. Particularly, AYAs who reported higher levels of MRl, SSS and SoC reported a better SWB.

CONCLUSION

The findings underscore the relevance of providing sufficient financial support for students in secondary schools in Ghana; thus, highlighting the sheer relevance of economic capital as a leading factor for better well-being. The findings also place much emphasis on building students' personal coping mechanisms as a key variable in explaining how the students' SSS and MR translate into having positive mental health outcomes.

Physical Exercise, Social Capital, Hope, and Subjective Well-Being in China: A Parallel Mediation Analysis

Based on data from the 2017 China General Social Survey, a conditional process analysis was conducted to explore the association between physical exercise and subjective well-being, as well as the parallel mediating effect of social networks and a sense of hope. The results showed that physical exercise had a significant positive predictive effect on the participants' subjective well-being. Furthermore, social networks and a sense of hope mediated the association between physical exercise and subjective well-being. Physical exercise indirectly promoted subjective well-being by enhancing social networks and a sense of hope. However, the indirect effect of a sense of hope on the association between physical exercise and subjective well-being was greater than that of social networks. The results of this study revealed the internal mechanism of the effect of participation in physical exercise on the improvement of subjective well-being, which is of great significance for formulating relevant policies and plans to further improve Chinese residents' well-being.

Life goals and proactive career behaviors: The mediating role of visions about the future and the moderating role of intolerance of uncertainty

Dominated by uncertainties, today's work world pushed university students to exhibit proactive career behaviors. Thus, this created a need for more research conducted to determine the variables associated with proactive career behaviors, on the grounds that additional research may contribute to an increase in proactive career behaviors. In this context the study explored the mediating role of visions about the future and the moderating role of intolerance of uncertainty in the relationship between university students' life goals and their proactive career behaviors. The study was carried out with 519 students (299 females and 220 males) studying at a university in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of Turkey. The Scale of Setting Life Goals with Respect to Positive Psychotherapy, the Visions about the Future Scale, the Career Engagement Scale, and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale were employed as data collection tools. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis, structural equation modeling methods, and regression analysis based on the bootstrap method. The correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between proactive career behaviors, life goals and visions about the future, and a negative relationship between proactive career behaviors and intolerance of uncertainty. Furthermore, the analyses put forth that visions about the future have a mediating role in the relationship between life goals and proactive career behaviors and that intolerance of uncertainty has a moderating role in the same relationship. Increasing university students' life goals and their visions about the future and reducing their intolerance of uncertainty will help them exhibit proactive career behaviors.