Psychological Flexibility and Mental Symptoms Among University Students: A Descriptive, Correlational Study

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between psychological flexibility and mental symptoms among university students.Methods: This study employed a descriptive and correlational research design. The sample consisted of 381 students attending faculties, schools, and vocational programs situated on the central campuses of a public university in northwestern Türkiye. Data were collected between April 1, 2024, and June 1, 2024, following approval from the ethics committee and institutional permission. The Student Information Form, the Psychological Flexibility Scale (PFS), and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) were used as data collection tools. The normality of the data distribution was tested using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. Since the data were not normally distributed, the relationships between variables were analyzed using Spearman’s correlation test.Results: A strong and significant negative correlation was found between the median PFS total and BSI total scores among the students (r = -0.649, P < .001). According to the other correlational results, significant negative relationships were identified between "acceptance", "flexible contact with the present moment", "cognitive defusion", and "values-based actions" and "anxiety", "depression", " interpersonal sensitivity", "somatization," and "hostility" (P < .001). However, no significant relationship was observed between "self as context" and the median BSI scores (P > .05).Conclusion: The results revealed that higher levels of psychological flexibility were associated with lower levels of anxiety, depression, negative self-attitudes, somatization, and hostility among students.