Depression and Perceived Social Support among Unemployed Youths in China: Investigating the Roles of Emotion-Regulation Difficulties and Self-Efficacy

Abstract

In recent years, the issue of youth unemployment has begun to emerge in China. Unemployed young people are at high risk of depression and other mental health problems. The present study investigates influential factors related to depression and examines the possible mediating effects of difficulties in emotion regulation and self-efficacy between perceived social support and depressive symptoms among unemployed youths in China. Through community recruitment, 511 unemployed young people from Shanghai participated in this cross-sectional survey. The results demonstrate that the prevalence of probable depression in the sample was 49.3% (95% CI: 45.0–53.7%). Moreover, we found that both the perceived social support and self-efficacy were significant negative predictors of depression, whereas difficulties in emotion regulation were positive predictors of depression. In addition, the analysis results indicate that difficulties in emotion regulation and self-efficacy partially mediate the relationship between perceived social support and depression. Overall, this cross-sectional study reveals that depression and mental health problems among China’s unemployed youths are concerning while identifying emotion-regulation difficulties as a risk factor for these and social support and self-efficacy as protective factors, all of which warrant our attention in preventing and intervening with cases of youth depression.

Long-term trends in the incidence of depressive disorders in China, the United States, India and globally: A comparative study from 1990 to 2019

“…The 2010 Southwest China earthquake occurred in a densely populated area, and the houses were easily destroyed, which exacerbated the damage and casualties and brought a huge psychological impact to residents ( Zhang et al, 2012 ). In recent years, with the continuous expansion of higher education, there is a serious mismatch between the supply and demand of labor force, and more and more young people say that it is difficult to find a job and the pressure of employment is great ( Hua and Ma, 2022 ). These natural and social factors have contributed to the increasing risk of depressive disorders since 2009.…”

The Chain Mediating Role of Rumination and Emotional Regulation Self-Efficacy in the Effect of Social Support on Depression in Chinese College Students

“…High levels of social support can also provide people the strength and self-assurance they need to face obstacles in life. Consequently, depression risk can be decreased [12]. For instance, a recent study revealed that students who lack social support-for instance, those who are nancially independent, reclusive, and ineffective partners-have higher depression scores [13].…”

Postpartum Depressive Symptoms, Perceived Social Support and Their Associations of Women Under Different COVID-19 Pandemic Severities: Analysis of A Chinese Nationwide Multicenter Study

“…It aims to measure the individual's degree of PSS from family, friends and signi cant others (such as teachers, common colleagues and classmates). We used the Chinese version revised in 1999 by Jiang et al and it demonstrated good internal reliability determined by the range of Cronbach's alpha from 0.80 to 0.95 [24][25][26][27][28]. Participants were asked to express their agreement with items on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from very strongly disagree (score 1) to very strongly agree (score 7).…”