Mediating Effect of Character Strengths and Psychological Resilience between Life Stress Events and Subjective Well-Being among Medical Students

To explore the mediating effects of character strengths and psychological resilience between life stress events and subjective well-being among medical students, 537 medical students were investigated, using a cross-sectional design, and evaluated by Chinese Character Strengths-24 (GACS-24), Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Adolescent Self-Rating Life Stress Events Check-list (ASLEC), and WHO-5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5). SPSS 26.0 was used for descriptive statistics and correlation analysis; PROCESS 3.5 was used for regression analysis and mediation effect testing. The scores of GACS-24, CD-RISC, ASLEC, and WHO-5 were (3.43±0.44), (25.30±6.10), (39.23±27.44), (22.32±14.73). Life stress events were negatively associated with character strengths, psychological resilience, and subjective well-being (r=-0.21, -0.27, -0.22; P<0.001); Subjective well-being was positively correlated with character strengths and psychological resilience(r=0.52, 0.48; P<0.001); Three mediating paths were identified: (1) life stress events through character strengths to subjective well-being; (2) life stress events through psychological resilience to subjective well-being; (3) life stress events through character strengths and psychological resilience to subjective well-being. All paths were significant, the effect sizes were -0.077, -0.019, and -0.027, which accounted for 35.98%, 8.88%, and 12.62% of the total effect (-0.214), and the mediating effect values for character strengths and psychological resilience was -0.123, accounting for 57.48% of the total effect. The influence of life stress events on subjective well-being can be reduced by improving the character strengths and psychological resilience of undergraduate students.