The Mediating Effect of Mental Health Literacy on Psychological Resilience and Psychological Distress of Medical College Students

Abstract

Purpose. Psychological resilience plays an important role in relieving the psychological distress. However, little is known about its underlying mechanisms. Mental health literacy, an important way to promote mental health, may mediate the effect of psychological resilience on psychological distress. This study aimed to explore the relationship between mental health literacy, psychological resilience, and psychological distress and explore the mediating effect between psychological resilience and psychological distress. Design and Methods. A cross-sectional study design was used. A total of 627 medical students were selected from one university. An electronic questionnaire was administered to collect information on the level of mental health literacy, psychological resilience, and psychological distress. Pearson’s correlation analysis was used in analyzing the relationship, and the Bootstrap method was used to test the mediating effects. Findings. Psychological distress significantly negatively correlated with mental health literacy and psychological resilience ( P < 0.001 ). The indirect effect of mental health literacy accounted for 50.43% of the total effect between psychological resilience and psychological distress. Practical Implication. Psychological resilience decreased the level of psychological distress, and this relationship was partially mediated by mental health literacy. These findings showed that efforts aimed at enhancing the mental health literacy may prevent or reduce the prevalence of psychological distress symptoms among college students.

The association between mental health literacy and resilience among individuals who received therapy and those who did not

“…The results of the study suggest that better knowledge regarding mental health disorders may be beneficial for one's resilience. Recently, studies conducted among Chinese adolescents, college students and older Chinese individuals revealed that MHL was positively associated with resilience (Song et al, 2023;Zhang et al, 2023aZhang et al, , 2023b. MHL is associated with self-management and self-efficacy as well as with positive coping styles (Song et al, 2023;Zheng et al, 2018).…”

“…The association between MHL and resilience has not received much research attention. We found only three studies in which the association between MHL and resilience was examined, and these studies were conducted among Chinese adolescents (Zhang et al , 2023b), Chinese college students (Zhang et al , 2023a) and “empty nesters” in China (older individuals over 60 with no children or whose children are not around) (Song et al , 2023). In all of these studies, MHL was positively associated with resilience.…”