Academic buoyancy and mattering as resilience factors in Chinese adolescents: An analysis of shame, social anxiety, and psychological distress

Abstract

Objectives: The current research sought to establish the protective role of factors in the achievement and the interpersonal domains in terms of their associations with reduced feelings of distress, social anxiety, and shame in Chinese adolescents. Specifically, we focused on academic buoyancy that taps daily academic resilience and the mattering construct as described by Rosenberg and colleagues. Methods: A sample of 232 adolescents from advanced and non-advanced high schools in China completed the Academic Buoyancy Scale, the General Mattering Scale, and measures of depression, social anxiety, and shame. Results: Analyses confirmed that academic buoyancy and a sense of mattering to others are associated with each other and both are linked significantly with reduced levels of depression, social anxiety, and shame. The findings were comparable for students from advanced versus non-advanced high schools. Conclusions and Implications: Our findings highlight the protective roles of developing a capacity to resiliently overcome academic setbacks and having an established sense of mattering to other people when coping with feelings of shame, social anxiety, and distress.