Introduction: Competitive attitudes among college students in highly competitive academic environments have attracted increasing scholarly attention, yet the mechanisms linking competitiveness to depressive symptoms remain insufficiently understood. This study addresses this gap by examining the association between competitive attitudes and depressive symptoms among Chinese engineering college students, with a particular focus on the mediating roles of sleep quality and peer relationships. Methods: The study employed a multi-stage stratified random sampling method to distribute electronic questionnaires to 692 undergraduate students from one of the top universities in China. Pearson correlation and regression analyses were conducted to assess these associations, and structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed mediating effects. Results: Descriptive statistics show that students reported mild levels of depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality on average, with males demonstrating significantly stronger competitive attitudes across all three dimensions compared to females. Path analysis shows that feelings for competition were positively associated with depression, with sleep quality serving as a significant mediator that accounted for 39.15% of the total effect. In contrast, beliefs about competition were negatively associated with depression, with peer relationships acting as a significant mediator and explaining 17.09% of the total effect. No significant association was found between behavioral tendencies of competition and depression. Conclusion: In general, feelings for competition exacerbated depressive disorders by negatively affecting their sleep quality. Conversely, beliefs about competition, which emphasizes personal development, alleviated depression by promoting positive peer relationships among students. These findings suggest that higher education institutions should encourage personal development-oriented competitive attitudes while implementing targeted interventions to reduce excessive competitive feelings, thereby promoting students’ psychological well-being. Keywords: competitive attitudes, depressive symptoms, sleep disturbances, interpersonal relationships, emerging adults
Gao et al. (Sun,) studied this question.