Freshman Life Events, Coping Style, Mood, Its Health Impact

The study asked Chinese freshman (N=430) to complete measures assessing life event (independent variables), mood and coping styles (moderator variables),and physical or psychological stress, somatization, anxiety and depression(dependent variables). To explore how and how much of influence adversity has on psychological or physical health by mood and coping styles by correlation analysis and structural model method.The conclusions were as follows:1. Somatization, anxiety and depression did not enter hypothesized structural model and their standard deviations are very large. They do not fit to measure psychological or physical health of freshman. Physical or psychological distress entered hypothesized structural model and its standard deviation is very large. It fit to measure psychological or physical health of freshman.2.In general results supported a direct effects model and a buffering effects model of the relationship between life events and psychological or physical distress. In the life events/health model, daily hassles affect somatic distress of freshman by positive coping, negative coping and negative mood. Daily hassles affect cognitive assessing of girls by positive coping. Main life events affect psychological distress of boys by negative coping.3. Males and females did not have significantly different scores on any of the variables examined, except for somatic distress, where femalesscored higher than males.4. All direct effects involving negative coping were associated with elevated scores on measures of negative mood and psychological distress of freshman. On the other hand, positive coping lowered scores on measures of negative mood and elevated scores on measures of positive mood and cognitive elevating of freshman.5. Negative mood had a both direct and indirect effect on somatic distress of freshman. And it is important for somatic distress of being. But positive mood did not have a significant effect on psychological or physical distress of freshman. Positive mood is not moderator variable in the life events/health relationship. So we think positive mood and negative mood are two things not two aspects of one thing. It is easy for environment to affect positive mood of female. Nor is male for in his hand.6. Variables in the study explained very well to psychological distress. Life events and negative coping styles were main reason of psychological distress. Psychological distress of male and female came from different ways. Male has a higher ability to control psychological distress than female. Psychological distress of female mainly came from environment.