Zhao Yanhua
Department of Psychology, Institute of Cognition, Brain and Health, Henan University, Kaifeng, China.
Front Psychol. 2022 Apr 13;13:726679. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.726679. eCollection 2022.
The pursuit of relationship goals is critical to the wellbeing of young adults. This study investigated different achievement goals toward social competence as potential predictors of social anxiety and depression symptoms. It proposed that self-esteem may function as a mediator on the pathway from endorsing social achievement goals to undergraduates' concurrent and longitudinal social anxiety and depression symptoms. Social achievement goal theory proposes three types of goals: social mastery goals (striving to improve one's social competence), social performance-approach goals (striving to prove one's social competence and win positive evaluation), and social performance-avoid goals (striving to avoid incompetent social behaviors and negative evaluation). One hundred and eighty-five Chinese undergraduates aged from 18 to 23 (50% female) completed this study across two-time points. Path analyses indicated that social mastery (marginally) and performance-approach goals were positively associated with self-esteem, whereas social performance-avoid goals were negatively associated with self-esteem; self-esteem was negatively associated with the concurrent social anxiety and depression symptoms and the longitudinal depression symptoms. The proposed mediation effects of self-esteem on the links from three types of social achievement goals to the concurrent and longitudinal social anxiety and depression symptoms were significant except on the links from social mastery goals and social performance-approach goals to the subsequent social anxiety symptoms. Self-esteem and the baseline social anxiety and depressive symptoms have a chain mediating effect between social achievement goals and the longitudinal symptoms of social anxiety and depression. These findings suggest that the pursuit of social mastery goals and performance-approach goals in initiating and maintaining social relationships boosts undergraduates' self-worth and reduces their concurrent and longitudinal depression experiences. However, the strivings to hide inadequacy and avoid negative evaluation in social contexts impede one's self-worth and increase concurrent and longitudinal social anxiety and depression symptoms. Implications and limitations are discussed.
追求人际关系目标对年轻人的幸福感至关重要。本研究调查了针对社交能力的不同成就目标，将其作为社交焦虑和抑郁症状的潜在预测因素。研究提出，自尊可能在认可社会成就目标与大学生同时期及纵向社交焦虑和抑郁症状之间的路径中起中介作用。社会成就目标理论提出了三种类型的目标：社会掌握目标（努力提高自己的社交能力）、社会表现趋近目标（努力证明自己的社交能力并赢得积极评价）和社会表现回避目标（努力避免社交无能行为和负面评价）。185名年龄在18至23岁之间的中国大学生（50%为女性）在两个时间点完成了本研究。路径分析表明，社会掌握（勉强）和表现趋近目标与自尊呈正相关，而社会表现回避目标与自尊呈负相关；自尊与同时期社交焦虑和抑郁症状以及纵向抑郁症状呈负相关。除了从社会掌握目标和社会表现趋近目标到随后社交焦虑症状的联系外，自尊对从三种社会成就目标到同时期及纵向社交焦虑和抑郁症状的联系所提出的中介作用是显著的。自尊和基线社交焦虑及抑郁症状在社会成就目标与社交焦虑和抑郁的纵向症状之间具有链式中介作用。这些发现表明，在建立和维持社会关系中追求社会掌握目标和表现趋近目标能提升大学生的自我价值，并减少他们同时期及纵向的抑郁体验。然而，在社交情境中努力隐藏不足并避免负面评价会阻碍一个人的自我价值，并增加同时期及纵向社交焦虑和抑郁症状。本文讨论了研究的意义和局限性。
