| Objective To investigate the impact of negative life events on university students 'depression and understand the roles of perceived social support and sense of meaning in life in this process. Methods A total of 732 university students were surveyed using the Adolescent Life Event Scale, Chinese Version of Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-2), Perceived Social Support Scale, and Sense of Meaning in Life Scale. Results Negative life events showed a significant positive correlation with depression (r=0.615,P<0.001), while demonstrating significant negative correlations with perceived social support (r=-0.559,P<0.001) and sense of meaning in life (r=-0.28,P<0.001). Depression also exhibited significant negative correlations with perceived social support (r=-0.585,P＜0.001) and sense of meaning in life(r=-0.522,P<0.001). Conversely, perceived social support showed a significant positive correlation with sense of meaning in life (r=0.326,P<0.001). It was found that perceived social support (β=0.125,P<0.001,mediation effect accounted for 24.56%) and sense of meaning in life (β=0.038,P<0.001,mediation effect accounted for 24.56%) played partial mediation and chain mediation respectively(β=0.036,P<0.001,chain mediation effect accounted for 7.07%).Conclusion Negative life events not only directly affect university students' depression but also exert indirect influences through two separate mediating pathways: perceived social support and sense of meaning in life, as well as their chain mediating pathway. |
