Background: Children and teens in Korea experience extreme levels of academic stress. Most of them have become accustomed to passive and involuntary engagement. Any student starting university, however, faces new challenges that require more active involvement and self-regulated practice. As a way to tackle this issue, the study focuses on investigating the mediating role of positive psychological capital in the relationship between family strength, self-leadership and psychological wellbeing among Korean university students.
Hypotheses: The current study hypotheses are: (a) family strength or self-leadership will be positively associated with psychological wellbeing, and (b) positive psychological capital will partially or fully mediate the relationship between family strength, self-leadership and indices of psychological wellbeing.
Sample Characteristics and Sample Size: The sample consisted of undergraduate students enrolled in various courses at 5 large universities in Korea. A total of 181 students participated in the study.
Design: A quantitative research design was adopted to test the hypotheses proposed in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on positive psychological capital, family strength, self-leadership and psychological wellbeing. The data were analyzed by means of Cronbach's alpha, Pierson correlation test, multiple regression, path analysis, and SPSS 22 for Windows.
Results: Positive psychological capital partially mediated the relationship between self-leadership and psychological wellbeing while fully mediating the relationship between family strength and psychological wellbeing among Korean university students. This result demonstrated that family strength indirectly influenced psychological wellbeing via positive psychological capital while self-leadership directly and indirectly influenced psychological wellbeing.
Scientific Contribution: The results of the current study provided useful insights into the role of psychological strengths such as positive psychological capital in improving family strength, self-leadership and psychological wellbeing. Institutions can assist in increasing positive psychological capital through the creation of positive experiences for undergraduate students such as opportunities for coaching and mentoring.