IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i2p633-d479861.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Support, Health Literacy and Depressive Symptoms among Medical Students: An Analysis of Mediating Effects

Author

Listed:
  • Yaqin Zhong

    (School of Public Health, Nantong University, Nantong 210029, China)

  • Elizabeth Schroeder

    (Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW 2109, Australia
    Department of Health Systems and Populations, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW 2109, Australia)

  • Yuexia Gao

    (School of Public Health, Nantong University, Nantong 210029, China)

  • Xiaojun Guo

    (School of Sciences, Nantong University, Nantong 210029, China)

  • Yuanyuan Gu

    (Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Macquarie Park, NSW 2109, Australia)

Abstract

Depressive symptoms are prevalent in university students and may impair their social, educational, and economic transition into adulthood. Identifying the factors that determine depressive symptoms is crucial for the design of effective policy interventions. This study aims to examine the associations between health literacy and depressive symptoms among medical students, and to evaluate the effect of different types of social support as a potential mediator. A cross-sectional survey of medical students was conducted through convenience sampling in East China. Associations between variables were explored using OLS and the mediation effect was estimated using the Karlson, Holm and Breen method. A total of 746 valid questionnaires were collected. The prevalence of depressive symptoms among the sample was 32.4%. Higher health literacy levels and social supports were significantly associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. Social support partially mediated the association between health literacy and depressive symptoms, accounting for a 54.03% of the total effect size. These findings suggest that interventions for medical student mental wellbeing could improve health literacy. Whilst family support reflects greatest impact, Universities can also lead and innovate novel interventions for this critical stage of life. Future research can extend this study by exploring the dynamic interactions between health literacy, depressive symptoms, and other sources of social support. Comparisons of these findings across the different regions of China and in other university subject disciplines are also warranted.

Suggested Citation

  • Yaqin Zhong & Elizabeth Schroeder & Yuexia Gao & Xiaojun Guo & Yuanyuan Gu, 2021. "Social Support, Health Literacy and Depressive Symptoms among Medical Students: An Analysis of Mediating Effects," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-12, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:2:p:633-:d:479861
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/633/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/633/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baoshan Zhang & Xinwei Yan & Fengqing Zhao & Fei Yuan, 2015. "The Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Adolescent Depression: The Roles of Social Support and Gender," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 123(2), pages 501-518, September.
    2. Claudia Torres & Patricia Otero & Byron Bustamante & Vanessa Blanco & Olga Díaz & Fernando L. Vázquez, 2017. "Mental Health Problems and Related Factors in Ecuadorian College Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-14, May.
    3. Xianbing Song & Danlin Li & Jie Hu & Rong Yang & Yuhui Wan & Jun Fang & Shichen Zhang, 2020. "Moderating Role of Health Literacy on the Association between Alexithymia and Depressive Symptoms in Middle School Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-9, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Monica Aureliana Petcu & Maria Iulia Sobolevschi-David & Raluca Florentina Crețu & Stefania Cristina Curea & Anca Maria Hristea & Mihaela Diana Oancea-Negescu & Daniela Tutui, 2023. "Telework: A Social and Emotional Perspective of the Impact on Employees’ Wellbeing in the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-18, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lu, Haiyang & Nie, Peng & Qian, Long, 2020. "Do Quarantine Experiences and Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Affect the Distribution of Psychological Outcomes in China? A Quantile Regression Analysis," GLO Discussion Paper Series 512, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Haiyang Lu & Peng Nie & Long Qian, 2021. "Do Quarantine Experiences and Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Affect the Distribution of Mental Health in China? A Quantile Regression Analysis," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(5), pages 1925-1942, October.
    3. Suphawita Pliannuom & Kanokporn Pinyopornpanish & Chaisiri Angkurawaranon & Kanokwan Pinyopornpanish & Anawat Wisetborisut & Surinporn Likhitsathian & Wichuda Jiraporncharoen, 2021. "Utilization of Health Care Services and Common Disease Diagnoses among University Students: An Analysis of 35,249 Students from Thailand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-11, July.
    4. Felix S. Hussenoeder & Ines Conrad & Alexander Pabst & Melanie Luppa & Janine Stein & Christoph Engel & Silke Zachariae & Samira Zeynalova & Maryam Yahiaoui-Doktor & Heide Glaesmer & Andreas Hinz & Ve, 2022. "Different Areas of Chronic Stress and Their Associations with Depression," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-9, July.
    5. Antonella Granieri & Silvia Casale & Maria Domenica Sauta & Isabella Giulia Franzoi, 2022. "Suicidal Ideation among University Students: A Moderated Mediation Model Considering Attachment, Personality, and Sex," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-13, May.
    6. Shegang Zhou & Lin Jin & Xiaoxian Liu & Xiaosheng Ding & Xiangru Zhu, 2022. "Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms in Chinese College Students: Latent Classes and Gender Effect," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-12, March.
    7. Stephanie Lynch & Conni DeBlieck & Linda C. Summers & Anita Reinhardt & Wanda Borges, 2019. "Adolescent Stress Treatment Study: A Cluster Randomized Trial," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 28(7), pages 795-811, September.
    8. Gökmen Arslan, 2018. "Social Exclusion, Social Support and Psychological Wellbeing at School: A Study of Mediation and Moderation Effect," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(3), pages 897-918, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:2:p:633-:d:479861. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.