The Role of Spiritual Capital and Mindfulness in Predicting COVID-19-Related Stress in College Students

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The stress related to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can be a risk factor for other psychological disorders in society. The present study aims to investigate the role of spiritual capital and mindfulness in predicting COVID-19-related stress in college students. Methods: This is a descriptive-correlational study. The study population consist of all male and female students of Farhangian University in Birjand, Iran during 2021-2022. Of these, 242 eligible students were selected using a web-based non-probabilistic sampling method. They completed the Spiritual Capital Scale of Golparvar et al. (2015), the Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire of Chadwick et al. (2008), and the Corona Stress Scale of Salimi (2015). For data analysis, Pearson’s correlation test and multiple regression analysis were used in SPSS software, version 22. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results: The relationship between spiritual capital and COVID-19-related stress (r=-0.585, P<0.01), and between mindfulness and COVID-19-related stress (r=-0.4569, P<0.01) was negative and significant. The spiritual capital explained 34.2% of the variance and the mindfulness explained 19.9% of the variance in COVID-19-related stress. Conclusion: Spiritual capital and mindfulness can predict the COVID-19-related stress among college students. This indicates the need for planning to improve individual, social, and spiritual abilities of students during the pandemic.