Positive affect and resilience in tertiary education students

Abstract

Mental illnesses are the greatest health problems faced by younger people. As a group, tertiary education students demonstrate higher levels of distress than their age matched peers who are not tertiary students, making them an at-risk group for the development of psychopathology. Therefore, this study investigates existing theories of resilience in order to determine how it may be promoted in tertiary education students. Data relating to affect, depression, anxiety, distress, and resilience were collected from 1072 tertiary education students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study found that positive affect was responsible for approximately 25% of the variance in depressive symptoms but less than 10% of the variance in symptoms of anxiety in tertiary students. The results further showed that positive affect was responsible for 21% of variance in overall distress and the 15% of variance in resilience. The findings of this study suggest that positive affect is more closely associated with symptoms of depression than with symptoms of anxiety in tertiary students. The results further suggest that positive affect may be a useful tool for relieving symptoms of depression and overall distress, and improving levels of resilience in this population.

Keywords:

• Depression
• anxiety
• psychological resilience
• mental health
• tertiary education students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

David Tuck is a PhD candidate in the School of Educational Psychology and Counselling at Monash University. His work mainly focuses on preventive mental health approaches in young people and other vulnerable populations.

Lefteris Patlamazoglou, PhD (he/him) is a counselling psychologist and lecturer in the School of Educational Psychology and Counselling at Monash University, Australia. In his counselling practice, teaching and research, Lefteris adopts the framework of intersectionality whereby individuals’ multiple identities intersect to create novel experiences of mental health and illness. Lefteris has a particular research interest in the wellbeing, grief and belonging of LGBTQIA+ young people and adults.

Dr. Joshua Wiley is a behavioural medicine researcher at Monash University in the School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health and Honorary Research Fellow at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. His research includes basic science and applied intervention work, particularly around understanding and improving sleep and mental health after cancer.

Dr Emily Berger is an Australian researcher who specialises in the areas of childhood trauma, trauma-informed practice, disasters and rural health, suicide and self-injury, child and youth mental illness, and teacher professional development. She is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Education, Monash University, and an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow with Monash’s School of Rural Health, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. Dr Berger is a Registered and Endorsed Educational and Developmental Psychologist and Board-Approved Supervisor with the Psychology Board of Australia. She has worked as a child, adolescent and family psychologist in schools and private clinic settings. For over 15 years as an academic and psychologist, Dr Berger has maintained collaborative partnerships across various educational settings, not-for-profit organisations, government departments and community groups.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.