Explaining the Relation Between Perceived Social Support and Psychological Well-Being Among Chinese Nursing Students: A Serial Multiple Mediator Model Involving Integrative Self-Knowledge and Self-Integrity

BACKGROUND

Addressing numerous calls for understanding the theoretical mechanisms that explain the relationship between perceived social support and psychological well-being to enhance nursing students' mental health.

AIMS

This study focused on how integrative self-knowledge and self-integrity mediate the relationship between perceived social support and psychological well-being.

METHODS

The Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to estimate the mediation effects on the relationship between perceived social support and psychological well-being among 487 undergraduate nursing students. To examine the directionality of effects, the present study also tested the reverse serial mediation model. Multi-group SEM (MGSEM) was used to test gender differences in the mediation model.

RESULTS

Integrative self-knowledge and self-integrity, in sequence, mediated the association between perceived social support and psychological well-being among nursing students. In addition, there was no gender difference in these associations.

CONCLUSIONS

Improving nursing students' perceived social support, integrative self-knowledge, and self-integrity is beneficial for promoting their mental health.

Corrigendum: Effortless Willpower? The Integrative Self and Self-Determined Goal Pursuit

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.653458.].

Integrative self-knowledge and marital satisfaction

Married Iranian couples (N = 210) responded to the Integrative Self-Knowledge Scale along with a measure of marital satisfaction, the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) Big Five, and an index of interpersonal problems. Integrative self-knowledge correlated positively with marital satisfaction, positively with all but the extraversion Big Five traits, and negatively with three indices of interpersonal problems. Integrative self-knowledge also mediated a number of personality relationships with marital satisfaction. Spouse-ratings of personality confirmed the adaptive implications of integrative self-knowledge for marriage. Linkages with questionnaire response styles supported the description of integrative self-knowledge as a measure of both self-insight and self-development. Results confirmed the potential of integrative self-knowledge for studying self-regulatory processes and suggested that the enhancement of self-knowledge may be a useful goal in efforts to strengthen marriages.