Predicting the mental health of college students with psychological capital

BACKGROUND: Behavioral health treatment is grounded in the medical model with language of deficits and problems, rather than resources and strengths. With developments in the field of positive psychology, re-focusing on well-being rather than illness is possible. AIMS: The primary purpose of this study was to examine relationships and predictions that exist between levels of mental health in college students, i.e., flourishing, moderate mental health, and languishing, and psychological capital (PsyCap). METHOD: For this cross-sectional, exploratory study survey method was used for data collection and for analyses of results a series of descriptive, correlation, ANOVA, and multiple regression analyses were done. FINDINGS: Results indicated that developing positive psychological strengths such as hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism (acronym HERO) within college students significantly increased their positive mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the predictive nature of PsyCap, mental health professionals may engage more in creating programs incorporating PsyCap development intervention for college students. Implications for counseling and programmatic services for college students are presented along with suggestions for future research.