The mediating effect of coping style between self-esteem and negative emotions among college students with left-behind experience

Objective To explore mediating effect of coping style on the relationship between self-esteem and negative emotions among college students with left-behind experience. Methods The investigation was carried out among 663 college students with left-behind experience by multistage sampling method, using coping style scale, self-esteem scale, self-rating anxiety scale and Beck depression inventory. Results Scores of all scales were shown as follows: self-esteem (3.09±0.51), anxiety (34.94±7.90), depression (8.80±8.72), solving problem coping (9.03±2.57), help-seeking coping (5.70±2.24), self-blaming coping (3.54±2.24), fantasy coping (4.56±2.35), avoidance coping (4.74±2.02), rationalizing coping (4.67±2.32). Anxiety and depression had significantly negative correlations with self-esteem(r=-0.46, -0.50, P<0.01), solving problem coping(r=-0.29, -0.30, P<0.01) and help-seeking coping(r=-0.08, -0.18, P<0.01), and significantly positive correlations with rationalizing coping(r=0.32, 0.28, P<0.01), self-blaming coping(r=0.45, 0.43, P<0.01), fantasy coping(r=0.33, 0.23, P<0.01) and avoidance coping(r=0.26, 0.23, P<0.01). There were partially significant mediating effects of solving problem coping(-0.09, 95%CI: -0.06--0.13), rationalizing coping(-0.03, 95%CI: -0.01--0.05), self-blaming coping(-0.11, 95%CI: -0.06--0.15), fantasy coping(-0.02, 95%CI: -0.01--0.04), and non-significant effects of help-seeking coping and avoidance coping in the relationship between self-esteem and negative emotions. Conclusion Solving problem coping, rationalizing coping, self-blaming coping and fantasy coping play a partial mediating role in the relationship between self-esteem and negative emotions, while the mediating effect of help-seeking coping and avoidance coping are not significant. Key words: College students with left-behind experience; Self-esteem; Negative emotions; Coping style