The Influence Of Life Events On Depression In Junior Middle School Students:Mediating Effect Of Psychological Capital And Its Intervention

Depression has become a common mental health problem in middle school students.Students in this period are sensitive and fragile,and are easily affected by others.In particular,negative life events have been suggested to have a negative impact on the physical and psychological well-being of adolescents.Positive psychological capital,as a positive psychological quality of the individual,plays a protective role in the growth and development of the individual.Therefore,this study investigates the current status and related relationships of negative life events,psychological capital and depression,and explores the efficiency of group counseling on reducing depression.The purpose of study one is to explore the relationships between negative life events,depression and psychological capital in junior high school students,and to test the mediating role of psychological capital between negative life events and depression.Using the Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Check-list(ASLEC),the Positive Psychological capital Questionnaire(PPQ),and the Children’s Depression Inventory(CDI),1457 junior high school students in Wuhan were recruited.In study two,thirty participants were randomly assigned to a training group or a wait-list control group.Participants in the training group took part in group psychology counseling targeting at psychological capital,once a week,lasting for six weeks.Before and after the training,all participants completed the PPQ and CDI,moreover,participants in the training group were also administered a follow-up test one month later.The results show that:(1)According to the original CDI norm,26.6%of the students in this study reported depression.(2)Positive correlations were found between negative life events and depression.negative life events and psychological capital,psychological capital and depression were negatively correlated.Psychological capital mediated the associations between negative life events and depression.(3)Group counseling intervention of psychological capital could reduce severity of depressive symptoms in the training group,and the effect were maintained one month later.