Longitudinal study reveals reciprocal links between hope and self-compassion mitigating anxiety and depression in college students, suggesting targets for mental health interventions.
Key Points
Investigate the longitudinal, reciprocal relationships among hope, self-compassion, anxiety, and depression in college students.
Assessed a cohort of college students (N = 445) across three time points at six-month intervals.
Conducted longitudinal mediation analyses to determine directional associations and psychological pathways among the variables.
Hope and self-compassion demonstrated reciprocal positive predictive associations across time.
Self-compassion served as a significant longitudinal mediator through which initial hope predicted downstream reductions in both anxiety and depression.