A Path Analytical Model of Psychological Capital and Mental Well-Being of Young Adults with Depressive Symptoms in Uganda

Abstract

This study examines the impact of psychological capital on the mental wellbeing of young adults with depressive symptoms in Uganda, given the rising cases of mental health issues in this group and the need for targeted interventions. The study adopted a correlational research design, involved 300 young adults with depressive symptoms aged 18-30 years. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the PCQ and the Mental Wellbeing Scale demonstrated satisfactory reliability, while the internal and concurrent validity of the two scales were acceptable. The estimates of effects were then derived through the Path modeling of SEM on the direct, indirect, and total effect of the psychological capital constructs on mental wellbeing controlling for social support and self-esteem as mediators. The result indicated that hope, resilience and self-efficiency anticipated better mental wellbeing, hope having a standardized regression coefficient of 0.038, p < 0.001, resilience = 0.091, p < 0.05, and selfefficacy = 0.088, p < 0.05. Self-esteem on the other hand, was found to have a negative relationship in influencing mental wellbeing (β =-0.027, p < 0.05). Using mediation path analysis, it was also discovered that social support and self-esteem moderate the relationship between psychological capital and mental wellbeing, however did not reach significance. By so doing, it is recommended that interventions geared towards young people with depressive symptoms should target hope, resilience and self-efficacy in order to improve mental health. It will be important for future studies to examine other cultural and environmental factors that might affect these dynamics in Uganda.