Relationship between just world belief and depression of college students: the multiple mediators of hope and forgiveness / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the mechanism of the influence of just world belief on depression in college students, and to explore the multiple mediating effects of hope and forgiveness.Methods:Totally 290 college students were assessed by belief in a just world scale(BJWS), adult dispositional hope scale(ADHS), Hearland forgiveness scale(HFS) and self-rating depression scale(SDS).Results:The scores of the belief in a just world, hope, forgiveness and depression were 53.90±7.83, 33.67±3.87, 109.75±12.52 and 16.84±8.41, respectively.The belief in a just world was positively correlated with hope( r=0.41, P<0.01) and forgiveness( r=0.40, P<0.01), and negatively correlated with depression( r=-0.38, P<0.01). Hope was positively correlated with forgiveness( r=0.43, P<0.01), and negatively correlated with depression( r=-0.53, P<0.01). Forgiveness had a significantly negative correlation with depression( r=-0.57, P<0.01). Structural equation model showed that the direct effect of the belief in a just world on depression was not statistically significant.The belief in a just world can influence depression by multiple mediators of hope(the effective amount=0.26), hope→forgiveness(the effective amount=0.20), and the model fitted well(χ 2/ df=1.63, RMSEA=0.04, GFI=0.96, NFI=0.98, CFI=0.99). Conclusion:The belief in a just world can influence depression by multiple mediators role of hope, hope→forgiveness.