Protective factors of mental health in universities: the mediating effect of the presence of meaning in life and resilience

Abstract The study aims to identify the psychological attributes that act as protective factors for mental health in the university context. To this end, negative variables, such as depression, anxiety, and stress, will be analyzed, as opposed to protective variables, such as resilience, self-efficacy, and meaning in life. The study sample consisted of 476 participants from all geographic regions of Brazil. In total, 68.5% identified themselves as women, and the average age was 37.23 years (SD = 14.05). The sample was formed by two main groups: university professors, 59.8% of the sample, and university students, 40.2% of the sample. The results of the inferential analysis revealed statistically significant differences for all variables investigated ( p < 0.001) in both groups. The correlation analysis indicated more expressive results for depression and resilience ( r = -0.56, p < 0.001), anxiety and presence of meaning ( r = -0.56, p < 0.001), and presence of meaning and stress ( r = -0.56, p < 0.001). In the regression, the most parsimonious prediction models for depression (adjusted R² = 0.378), anxiety (adjusted R 2 = 0.413) and stress (R 2 = 0.443) include resilience and presence of meaning as predictors with the greatest impact. Seeking to understand how these variables behave simultaneously, a mediation model was tested, which corroborated the role of resilience and presence of meaning. We conclude that conceiving your life as having purpose and coherence and having the ability to prevent and overcome the negative impacts of adversity contributes to mental health.