A Study on the Current Status and Influencing Factors of “Hollow Syndrome” Among Medical University Students

Minghui Cheng,1,* Yiju Wang,2,* Shusen Liu,3 Shiyu Zhang,1 Changjiang Wang,1 Hao Sun,1 Hui Xie,1 Yinan Xu4 1School of Clinical Medicine, Jining Medical University, Jining, 272013, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Pharmacy, Harbin Business University, Heilongjiang, Harbin, 150076, People’s Republic of China; 4Reunion Committee of Jining Medical University, Jining, 272002, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Hui Xie, School of Clinical Medicine, Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong, 272002, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected] Yinan Xu, Reunion Committee of Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong, 272002, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: The “hollow heart disease” phenomenon is on the rise today. We introduce a new concept, “hollow syndrome”, and explore its multiple influencing factors as well as its relationship with mental resilience. This study aims to provide support to mental health for university population and to provide a reference for the intervention of hollow syndrome.Methods: We used Hollow Syndrome Scale and Mental Resilience Scale to conduct cross-sectional study and data collection from 3,173 Chinese university students. After thorough reliability and validity test on the two scales, independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA were used to explore differences in hollow syndrome across demographic characteristics, and least significant difference was performed after stratification for grade level. Pearson correlation analyses were used to find correlations between mental resilience and hollow syndrome. Finally, we used multiple linear regression to explore its risk and protective factors..Results: Medical major (P=0.011, Cohen’s d=0194), grade, overweight, major satisfaction, experience of being left-behind before 18, participant’s disease status, paternal disease status (Cohen’s d=0.207), maternal disease status differed significantly on total Hollow Syndrome Scale score (all P< 0.001). Grade (β=0.042, P=0.019), major satisfaction (β=0.122, P< 0.001,Cohen’s d=− 0.582) were positively correlated with total score; overweight (β=− 0.064, P< 0.001,Cohen’s d=0.179), experience of being left-behind before 18 (β=− 0.065, P< 0.001,Cohen’s d=0.249), participant’s disease status (β=− 0.068, P< 0.001,Cohen’s d=0.282), maternal disease status (β=− 0.053, P=0.007,Cohen’s d=0.151) were negatively correlated with total score. There was a significant difference in total scores in second and graduated year compared to the first-year students (P< 0.001). Overall, the first and the third year had lower Hollow Syndrome Scale score. This suggests that students in both grades are more likely to develop hollow syndrome.Conclusion: The psychological problems of medical students need to be taken seriously. Attention should be focused on the first and third year medical university students.Keywords: hollow syndrome, mental resilience, values deficiency, prevalence survey, least significant difference