Abstract
There has been growing evidence that college students are at risk for multiple psychological symptoms, and that these psychological symptoms occur with different grades. According to network theory, we investigated this underlying process by examining cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between psychological symptoms among college students at different grades. A total of 3,701 Chinese first-year university students were recruited to participate in the study and were followed up after 1 and 2 years, and the SCL-90-R was used to assess psychological symptoms. Anxiety and depression were both core symptoms in the three wave cross-sectional networks. In the 1st-2nd grade cross-lagged network, somatization was the strongest predictor, while anxiety was predicted by other symptoms. However, in the cross-lagged network from 2nd-3th grade, the most predictive symptom changed to paranoid ideation and the most predicted symptom changed to obsessive-compulsive. In addition, longitudinally we only found that hostility in the 1st year of college was a strong negative predictor of academic performance. This study provides new insights into the characterization of psychological symptoms among college students and the predictive relationships among psychological symptoms at different grades, which provides guidance for targeted psychological interventions for college students.
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Reference
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We thank all students and teachers for participating in this study.
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The study described in this report was Funded by the 2023 Teaching Reform Research Project of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)(Grant No. 2023071).
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Wenrui Zhang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing; Jinbo Hou: Investigation, Writing, Supervision, Editing.
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Zhang, W., Hou, J. Psychological symptoms and academic achievement among Chinese college students of different grades: a cross-sectional and cross-lagged network analysis. Curr Psychol 43, 16533–16543 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05590-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05590-1