Psychological maltreatment predicts decreases in social wellbeing through resilience in college students: A conditional process approach of positive emotions

Although mental wellbeing has received increasing interest from researchers and practitioners, few have focused on social wellbeing. Understanding the factors of young adults' social wellbeing has become essential in providing mental health services to foster their social adjustment and functioning. The present study investigated the mediating role of resilience in the association between psychological maltreatment and social wellbeing, as well as the moderating role of positive emotions on the mediating effect of resilience in this relationship among Turkish college students. Participants included 381 college students from a state university, ranging in age from 18 to 41 years (67% female; M = 20.81, SD = 3.50). Results from structural equation modeling revealed that psychological maltreatment had a significant predictive effect on resilience and social wellbeing. Resilience also significantly mitigated the adverse impact of psychological maltreatment on young people's social wellbeing. Further results showed that positive emotions had a buffering effect on the association of psychological maltreatment with resilience and social wellbeing, as well as moderated the effect of resilience on social wellbeing. These findings indicated the mechanism of psychological maltreatment affecting mental health, which had important empirical and theoretical value for improving the strength of resilience and positive emotions and fostering social wellbeing.

Automated summary

This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of resilience in the association between psychological maltreatment and social wellbeing, as well as the moderating role of positive emotions on the mediating effect of resilience in this relationship. The results showed that psychological maltreatment had a significant impact on resilience and social wellbeing, and resilience and positive emotions played important roles in mitigating the adverse effects of psychological maltreatment on social wellbeing.