Life satisfaction and its correlates among college students in China: A test of social reference theory

Abstract

Introduction To study life satisfaction and to test the role of social reference in determining the degree of life satisfaction, we examined a large sample of undergraduate students in China for the correlates of campus life satisfaction. Methods A questionnaire survey was administered at a university and the final sample consisted of 439 respondents aged between 17 and 24 years, from all over the country, and studying different subjects. Results It was found that freshman students tended to score higher on their life satisfaction than students in other grades and the college students’ life satisfaction was positively related to female gender, self-esteem, social support, and the liberal attitudes on female gender roles, but negatively correlated with depression and suicidal ideation. Conclusions Contrary to common beliefs, students from an urban area or from better-off families were not necessarily more satisfied with current life than those students coming from the countryside or low income families. The findings were accounted for by the social reference theory and in this case college students’ campus life satisfaction is basically affected by their pre-college life quality as a reference.

Resilience to suicide ideation: A cross‐cultural test of the buffering hypothesis

“…Specifically, for German students scoring high on life satisfaction, depression did not lead to increased levels of suicide ideation. This finding supplements previous studies that found life satisfaction to be negatively associated with suicide ideation (e.g., Heisel & Flett, ; Zhang, Zhao, Lester, & Zhou, ) as well as with suicide over a 20‐year period (Koivumaa‐Honkanen et al, ). However, in a small sample of psychiatric patients, Heisel and Flett () found no support for the assumption that life satisfaction buffers the impact of depression on suicide ideation.…”

Are Total, Intensity- and Domain-Specific Physical Activity Levels Associated with Life Satisfaction among University Students?

“…The association of being a female with higher life satisfaction was congruent with the results of some, but not all previous studies of university students. For example, Vaez et al [ 80 ] and Zhang et al [ 81 ] found higher life satisfaction among female students, whilst non-significant [ 82 , 83 ] or mostly opposite [ 14 ] associations were observed in other studies. Furthermore, a recent study [ 81 ] found higher life satisfaction among freshmen when compared to older students, which is in accordance with the inverse relationship between age and life satisfaction observed in our study.…”

“…For example, Vaez et al [ 80 ] and Zhang et al [ 81 ] found higher life satisfaction among female students, whilst non-significant [ 82 , 83 ] or mostly opposite [ 14 ] associations were observed in other studies. Furthermore, a recent study [ 81 ] found higher life satisfaction among freshmen when compared to older students, which is in accordance with the inverse relationship between age and life satisfaction observed in our study. By contrast, in several other studies among university students, life satisfaction showed no significant relationship with age or year in school [ 80 , 82 , 83 ].…”

Moderating Effect of Self-Esteem on the Relationship Between Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Final Year University Students

“…The results of a study among college students revealed significant correlations between self-esteem, hope, satisfaction with life, and mental health of the students (Rezaei, Bayani, & Shariatnia, 2015). Similarly, Zhang, Zhao, Lester, and Zhou (2014) observed that life satisfaction among college students is positively associated with self-esteem. Olea, Bernal, and Hernandez (2012) further stated that students with high self-esteem are more positive, less anxious, more independent, less likely to engage in drugs and alcohol use, more confident and persistent at handling difficult tasks, happier and more sociable, and have better academic performance than those with low self-esteem.…”