Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 379-384
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.52 379
I
NFLUENCE OF
I
DEOLOGICAL AND
P
OLITICAL
E
DUCATION ON THE
P
SYCHOLOGICAL
C
APITAL
D
EVELOPMENT OF
C
OLLEGE
S
TUDENTS
Ying Fu*
Abstract
The development of psychological capital is critical to the mental health of college students. This paper aims to disclose the effects of ideological and political education (IPE) on the psychological capital development of college students. Firstly, the recognition of the IPE among college students in China was summed up based on the relevant literature and a previous survey. Then, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 500 students from four university in south-eastern China’s Zhejiang province, and the psychological capital of each student was discussed in all four dimensions (hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism). Finally, a comparative experiment was conducted on college students with or without receiving the IPE. The results show that students with good academic records have high psychological capital in all dimensions; the students receiving the IPE achieved higher scores in each dimension of psychological capital than those not receiving the IPE, indicating that the IPE can promote the development of psychological capital. The research results lay a theoretical basis for improving the IPE and enhancing the psychological capital among college students.
Key words: Development of Psychological Capital, Ideological and Political Education (IPE), Political Consciousness, Sense of Identity, Promotive Effect.
Received: 17-01-19 | Accepted: 19-06-19
INTRODUCTION
Ideological and political education course in colleges and universities plays the main position for college students in this field. It helps college students to establish a correct world outlook, outlook on life and values, and promote their overall healthy development (Jafri, 2013). The psychology of college students is in a stage of rapid development. Due to the differences in social environment, family background and personality, the psychological capital of different
college students shows a diversified
characteristic (Kirsch, Pinder-Amaker, Morse et al., 2014). The development of psychological capital can ensure college students to have the abilities of independent thinking, decision-
School of Computer Science, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434000, China.
E-Mail: fuying@yangtzeu.edu.cn
making and execution, and also form a positive and healthy mental state, so that they can calmly face the challenges and difficulties in life (Ghosh, Shuck, Cumberland et al., 2018; Goertzen & Whitaker, 2015). Previous studies have shown that psychological capital consists of two factors: control point and self-esteem, and four dimensions of hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism (Alkire & Avey, 2013).
Psychological capital is the positive mentality of individuals in the whole process of growth. An excellent college student not only needs to have good ideological and political qualities, but also shows the psychological capital such as self-efficacy, hope, resilience, and optimism (Ki-Soon & Pooja, 2018; Meyer, 2016). Psychological capital is related to many factors. Studies have shown that psychological capital is positively correlated with job satisfaction, sense of identity, happiness and mental health etc., and its corresponding dimensions also have a
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positive impact on each influencing factor (Bailey & Williams, 2016). The IPE of college
students is scientific, directional and
contemporary. The education level in this field directly affects the development of college students' psychological capital (Shih & Chih-Min, 2017). At present, there is little research on the relationship between IPE and college students' psychological capital. Psychological capital is most affected by psychological sense of identity. But it is still unclear about whether different IPE shows different characteristics and status of psychological capital (Maosen & Li, 2017). Therefore, this paper attempts to explore the effect of ideological and political education on
the development of college students'
psychological capital.
CURRENT SITUATION AND ANALYSIS FOR
COLLEGE STUDENTS' RECOGNITION OF
IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION
Ideological and political education can satisfy the
benefit relationship required for college students’
promotion of knowledge and ability. In the new era, the learning attitude of college students to IPE depends on their degree of recognition (Ji, 2016). The IPE aims to cultivate college students' political
ideas, overall consciousness and patriotism. So, it’s
necessary to cultivate students' recognition of the IPE values (Zhang, Ewalds-Kvist, Li et al., 2018), which lies on their own values, family education environment, campus environment and social environment. Their own concept of values is the most important. Under the guidance of their own correct values, the school environment has also become one important factor for smooth development of the IPE (Wisner, 2011).
Figure 1 shows the survey results of college students' recognition of ideological and political education, in which 29.13% of college students showed a very high degree of recognition, and 47.57% of college students had a high degree of recognition in IPE, but 7.77% and 6.8% of college students showed a low and a very low degree of recognition respectively. Figure 2 shows whether the IPE content in colleges satisfies the needs of students. It can be clearly seen that 21.57% of college students thought that the content was very satisfactory, and 47.06%
thought that it’s satisfactory, but 13.73% and 9.8% of college students thought that it’ unsatisfactory or very unsatisfactory.
Figure 1
.
The result of college students'
recognition of ideological and political
education
6.8% 7.77% 8.74% 47.57%
29.13%
Very high recognition High recognition Uncertain Low recognition Very low recognition
Figure 2
. Whether the content of ideological
and political education in colleges meets the
needs of students
9.8% 13.73% 7.84%
47.06%
21.57%
Very satisfied Satisfied Basic satisfied Dissatisfaction Very dissatisfaction
STATUS SURVEY ON COLLEGE STUDENTS' PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT
Survey results
As a category of psychological theory, psychological capital is an innate psychological characteristic of college students. It is persistent, stable and developable. Psychological capital includes the individual's self-worth, inner quality, physical health, etc., as well as the individual's perception of society. The existing multi-dimensional theories of self-efficacy, resilience, optimism and hope all agree that the dimension of psychological capital is in line with the nature and state of positive psychology and positive organizational behaviour. This paper conducts a questionnaire survey of 500 college students from four universities in Zhejiang. Table 1 lists the sample description of the survey, and the variables include gender, grade, student cadre and academic achievement.
INFLUENCE OF IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 381
Table 1.
Survey sample description
Basic
information Options Frequency Percentage
Gender Male 279 55.8%
Female 221 44.2%
Grade
First grade 116 17.2%
Second
grade 132 26.4%
Third
grade 130 26%
Fourth
grade 122 24.4%
Student cadres
Yes 172 34.4%
No 328 65.6%
Academic record
Poor 107 21.4%
Medium 269 53.8%
Good 124 24.8%
Figure 3
. Score values of each dimension of
psychological capital
4.6 4.8 5.0 5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 6.0 6.2 6.4 Toughness Optimistic Hope Self-efficacy Average value Minimum value Maximum value 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5Figure 3 shows the scores of psychological capitals at each dimension. It can be clearly seen that the scores of self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience gradually decreased, but the maximum value of all dimensions was 7.0, and the self-efficacy dimension had the minimum score. Figure 4 shows the effect of various factors on the psychological capital. Figure 4(a) shows that the male students' psychological capital in each dimension had higher scores than female students in terms of gender factor, and there was a significant difference in the dimensions of self-efficacy and optimistic between different genders; Figure 4(b) shows clearly that with the growth of grades, the scores of psychological capital at all dimensions were reduced, and different grades have significant differences in all dimensions of psychological capital; Figure 4(c) indicates that student cadres scored higher in all dimensions of psychological capital than non-student cadres, and student cadre factor showed significant differences in the dimension of self-efficacy; Figure 4(d) indicates that the students with good academic records in all dimensions of psychological capital were higher than the normal students, and the
academic record factor showed significant
differences in each dimension.
Figure 4
.
The effect of each factor on each
factor of psychological capital
4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 Sc or e v al ue s Male Female
Self-efficacy Hope Optimistic Toughness
(a) Gender 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 Sc or e v al ue s First grade Second grade Third grade Fourth grade
Self-efficacy Hope Optimistic Toughness
(b) Grade 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 S co re v al ue s Student cadre Non-student cadre
Self-efficacy Hope Optimistic Toughness
(c) Student cadres
4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 Sc or e v al ue s Poor Medium Good
Self-efficacy Hope Optimistic Toughness
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Reasons for the problems in the development of college students' psychological capital
Figure 5 shows the dimensions and connotations of the psychological capital. The dimensions of psychological capital include self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience. Self-efficacy refers to the
individual's belief that a person’s ability to stimulate
cognitive resource can achieve specific output; hope means a state of positive motivation with strong desires and ways to achieve goals; optimism and resilience are positive states in the face of adversity, conflict or failure. The survey on various dimensions of psychological capital indicates that there are many problems in the development process of psychological capital, mainly because the college students have no sufficient understanding of the concept of psychological capital development, making it difficult for them to realize the positive impact of specific psychological capital on themselves, and they are reluctant to spend too much time and manpower in improving their psychological capital; furthermore, there is the lack of conditions for the development of college
students’ psychological capital, e.g., the colleges
pursue for the maximization of interests, but ignoring the development of students' psychological capital; they regard mental health as the whole content of psychological capital development, in a single development form.
EFFECTS OF IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF COLLEGE STUDENTS' PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL
Research design
Ideological and political education cultivates college students' political consciousness, cultural awareness and behavioural consciousness, which strengthens their confidence in institutions, cultures and behaviour to a certain extent, and promotes the development of college students' psychological capital. In order to explore the effect of the IPE on the development of college students' psychological capital, an experimental group and a control group were designed in this study. All the subjects were paid for recruitment. Table 2 shows the basic statistics of the test subjects for the development of
college students’ psychological capital. The
experimental group received a week of IPE course, which can be regarded as an IPE intervention; the control group had taken no IPE course. Table 3 shows the design of the IPE intervention study. The pre-test and post-test methods were implemented for both groups; the experimental group had the tracking test, while the control group did not.
Figure 5
. The dimension and connotation of psychological capital
Self-efficacy
The belief that a person's ability to stimulate cognitive resources can
achieve specific output
Hope
A state of positive motivation with strong desires and ways to achieve
goals
Optimistic
There is a way of explaining why positive things are attributed to internal,
permanent and universal causes.
Toughness
Ability to bounce back or recover quickly from adversity, conflict, failure,
or even success
Psychological capital Enthusiasm Measurable Developable Impact on performance
INFLUENCE OF IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 383
Table 2.
Statistics on psychological capital
development of college students
Classification Experience group Control group
Gender Male Female Male Female
First grade 30 20 25 25
Second grade 35 25 30 30
Third grade 30 25 30 25
Fourth grade 25 25 25 30
Total 120 95 110 110
Table 3.
Research design of ideological and
political education intervention
Group Pretest Intervention Posttest Tracking test
Experience
group Pre-test
Ideological and political
education intervention
Post-test
Implementing a tracking
test
Control
group Pre-test Processless Post-test
Untracked test
Research results
Figure 6 shows the analysis results for the effect of the IPE on the development of college students' psychological capital. It can be seen that that 18.63% of college students believed that the IPE had a very high impact on the development of college students' psychological capital; 47.06% thought it had an impact, but more than 20% of college students believed that it had a low or very low impact on the development.
Figure 6
.
Analysis of the influence of
ideological and political education on
psychological capital development of
college students
7.84% 13.73% 12.75%
47.06%
18.63%
Very high impact Have an impact Not sure Low impact Very low impact
Figure 7 shows the pre-test differences between the experimental group and the control group, indicating that the scores of the two groups in self-efficacy dimension were the same, and the scores of the experimental group in the dimensions of resilience, hope and optimism were less than the control group. Figure 8 shows the post-test
difference between the two groups. It can be seen that the scores of the experimental group in all dimensions of psychological capital were higher than those of the control group, and the IPE can promote the development of psychological capital.
Figure 7
.
Analysis of pretest difference
between experimental group and control
group
30 35 40 45 50
Optimistic Hope
Toughness Self-efficacy
S
c
o
re
v
a
lu
e
Experience group Control group
Figure 8
.
Analysis of difference between
experimental group and control group
30 35 40 45 50 55
Optimistic Hope
Toughness Self-efficacy
S
co
re
v
al
u
e
Experience group Control group
CONCLUSIONS
This paper explores the effect of the IPE on the development of college students' psychological capital. The specific conclusions are as follows:
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(1) Psychological capital includes the individual's self-worth, inner quality, physical health, etc., as well as the individual's perception of society. The existing
multi-dimensional theories of self-efficacy,
resilience, optimism and hope all agree that the dimension of psychological capital is in line with the nature and state of positive psychology and positive organizational behaviour;
(2) The survey results for the development of
college students’ psychological capital indicates that
the factors such as gender, grade level, student cadre and academic achievement all affect the scores in
each dimension of psychological capital
development to varying degrees, and each factor shows significant difference in each dimension;
(3) The scores of the experimental group in all dimensions of psychological capital were higher than those of the control group, indicating that the IPE can promote the development of psychological capital.
Acknowledgement
This paper was supported by 2017 Hubei Provincial Department of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Research (17Q058).
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