Self‐Improvement and Fashion Values and Loneliness: A Two‐Wave Longitudinal Study of the Differential Mediating Roles of Meaning in Life and Self‐Esteem

This two‐wave longitudinal study ( N = 576 Chinese college students; 72.1% female, 27.9% male; mean age = 19.53 years, SD = 0.74; T1 = freshman year, T2 = junior year, 2‐year interval) aimed to explore how self‐oriented values—self‐improvement (SI) and fashion—affect loneliness through the multiple mediating roles of meaning in life (ML) and self‐esteem (SE). Participants completed the Chinese Youth Values Questionnaire, Chinese Meaning in Life Scale, Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale and UCLA Loneliness Scale at both time points. Mediation analyses using PROCESS Model 6 revealed that SI reduced loneliness via three significant indirect paths: (a) through ML alone, (b) through SE alone and (c) through the sequential chain of ML → SE. In contrast, fashion only exerted an indirect negative effect on loneliness through SE, with no significant mediating role of ML. These findings highlight that SI value has a stronger and more enduring impact on alleviating loneliness through both existential (ML‐related) and self‐evaluative (SE‐related) pathways. The results provide practical implications for developing values‐based mental health interventions in Chinese higher education contexts.