College of Education Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China.
Department of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jan 1;19(1):456. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19010456.
Recent research has emphasized the crucial role of expressive flexibility in mental health. This study extended prior studies by further exploring the mediating mechanism and possible gender differences underlying the association between expressive flexibility and mental health indexed by depression and life satisfaction based on the dual-factor model of mental health. Specifically, we explored whether social support mediated the association between expressive flexibility and depression as well as life satisfaction, and whether there were gender differences in these relationships. A total of 711 voluntary college students (mean age = 20.98 years, = 2.28; 55.70% women) completed a set of scales assessing expressive flexibility, perceived social support, depression, and life satisfaction. Results showed that expressive flexibility had a positive direct effect on life satisfaction and social support mediated this association. Social support also mediated the relationship between expressive flexibility and depression. The mediation effect of social support was robust and consistent in men and women whereas expressive flexibility had a stronger direct effect on depression in women compared to men. The present study contributes to clarifying the relationship between expressive flexibility and mental health from a more comprehensive perspective. Last, the strengths and limitations of this study were discussed.
最近的研究强调了表达灵活性在心理健康中的关键作用。本研究在心理健康的双因素模型基础上，进一步探讨了表达灵活性与抑郁和生活满意度等心理健康指标之间的关系，以及性别差异的潜在中介机制，从而扩展了先前的研究。具体来说，我们探讨了表达灵活性与抑郁和生活满意度之间的关系是否通过社会支持来介导，以及这些关系是否存在性别差异。共有 711 名自愿参加的大学生（平均年龄=20.98 岁，标准差=2.28；女性占 55.70%）完成了一组评估表达灵活性、感知社会支持、抑郁和生活满意度的量表。结果表明，表达灵活性对生活满意度有积极的直接影响，社会支持介导了这种关联。社会支持也中介了表达灵活性与抑郁之间的关系。社会支持的中介效应在男性和女性中是稳健且一致的，而与男性相比，表达灵活性对女性抑郁的直接影响更强。本研究从更全面的角度阐明了表达灵活性与心理健康之间的关系。最后，讨论了这项研究的优点和局限性。
