The Relationship between Conscientiousness and Well-Being among Chinese Undergraduate Students: A Cross-Lagged Study

Abstract

Chinese culture attaches great importance to the education and cultivation of youth conscientiousness, however in the context of Chinese culture, little is known about the relationship between conscientiousness and mental and physical health. The present study aimed to investigate whether there is a reciprocal relationship between conscientiousness and well-being (subjective and physical well-being) among Chinese undergraduate students. A series of self-reported questionnaires were administered to 365 undergraduate students in 2 waves, separated by 1 year. Cross-lagged regression analyses were applied to examine the reciprocal relationships. Results indicated that conscientiousness positively predicted subsequent levels of positive affect and life satisfaction, while negatively predicted subsequent levels of negative affect and physical symptoms, controlling for the effects of gender, age, body-mass index, socioeconomic status, and the prior level of conscientiousness. Whereas, positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, and physical symptoms did not significantly predict subsequent levels of conscientiousness. This study suggests that conscientiousness is a robust and prospective predictor of subjective and physical well-being. The reciprocal relationship between conscientiousness and well-being was not confirmed in the current sample of Chinese undergraduate students.

Longitudinal relationships among loneliness, social anxiety, self-esteem and self-concept in rural left-behind children: a cross-lagged study

“…A total of 124 items from four scales at T1 were subjected to the exploratory factor analysis without rotation and the analysis produced 33 common factors, with the rst explaining the 25.48% variance. The analysis of 124 items at T2 yielded 38 factors, with the rst explaining the 22.48% variance, both of which were lower than the critical standard of 40% 34 . The results indicated that the correlation between the studied variables in this study was not driven purely by method bias.…”

Well-being of Chinese students - a review in the context of implications for the educational proces

“…Hu et al, 2021; Y. Hu et al, 2022; Shek et al, 2017; Xu et al, 2016; Yu et al, 2018). One text employed experimental research with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of positive online psychological intervention (PPI) in the context of well-being (Auyeung & Mo, 2019), as well, one text presented the results of research conducted in a quasi-experimental design determining the impact of service learning (SL) on spiritual well-being and mental health (Pong, 2022).…”

“…In the studies analyzed, the authors sought answers about the relationship between well-being and traits such as resilience, coping styles (Chen, 2016), flow (Wu et al, 2021), playfulness (Y. Li et al, 2021), kindness (Datu & Lin, 2022) or conscientiousness (Y. Hu et al, 2022).…”

“…Promoting the development of this trait among students with low conscientiousness can help improve physical and mental health (Y. Hu et al, 2022).…”

“…In six of the texts analyzed, the researchers presented the results of long-term studies, conducted over a longer period of time, from 2 to 4 years (during the study period of the subjects) (Datu & Lin, 2022;A. Hu et al, 2021;Y. Hu et al, 2022;Shek et al, 2017;Xu et al, 2016;Yu et al, 2018).…”