Conscious Self-Regulation and Psychological Well-Being in Students Experiencing Stress: A Cross-Sectional Study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Mental Health
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Rising global rates of stress-induced mental disorders in young people.
• Need for assessing student stress and identifying coping resources.
• Limited research on the role of conscious self-regulation in student well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between conscious self-regulation and psychological well-being in students.
• To examine how self-regulation influences responses to acute, chronic, and perceived stress.
• To determine the protective role of self-regulation against stress in an academic population.

Main Methods:

• Survey of 2,189 students from vocational and higher education institutions across 13 cities.
• Utilized validated questionnaires: Self-Regulation Profile, Well-Being Manifestations, Acute and Chronic Stress, and Perceived Stress Scale.
• Employed correlational and multivariate regression analyses to assess relationships.

Main Results:

• Conscious self-regulation showed significant negative correlations with all measured stress types (r=-0.13 to -0.48, p≤0.001).
• Self-regulation was positively correlated with psychological well-being (r=0.55, p≤0.001).
• Multivariate analysis confirmed self-regulation's association with higher well-being, independent of stress levels (β=0.26).

Conclusions:

• Conscious self-regulation acts as a crucial buffer against the detrimental effects of various stressors on student mental health.
• Findings underscore the importance of fostering self-regulation skills to support student psychological well-being.
• Self-regulation is a key factor in mitigating stress and promoting resilience in academic settings.