PROMOTIVE EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT ON IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

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Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 1189-1195

DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.170 1189

P

ROMOTIVE

E

FFECTS OF

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SYCHOLOGICAL

C

APITAL

D

EVELOPMENT ON

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DEOLOGICAL AND

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OLITICAL

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DUCATION OF

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OLLEGE

S

TUDENTS

Jing Luo, Mengxia Xiao*

Abstract

The development of psychological capital (PsyCap) is closely related to the mental health. It is often adopted to promote the ideological and political education for college students. This paper attempts to determine how PsyCap development affects the ideological and political education in colleges. Therefore, a random survey was carried out among college students in three universities of Nanjing, China, and the survey results were subjected to descriptive analysis and correlation analysis. The results show that PsyCap regulates the learning attitude of students in ideological and political education; the PsyCap development improves the ideological and political education in colleges to some extents; the PsyCap and its dimensions are affected by such factors as gender, grade, major, student origin and academic records. The research results are important for promoting the physical, mental and ideological growth of college students.

Key words: Psychological Capital (PsyCap), Mental Health, Ideological and Political Education, Statistical Analysis.

Received: 19-02-19 | Accepted: 07-07-19

INTRODUCTION

In China's higher education, ideological and political education occupies the core position. More attention has been paid to the development and cultivation of college students' PsyCap. It’s of great significance for the mental health of college students to explore the integration of PsyCap with ideological and political education, which conforms to the trend of ideological and political education in higher education (Luthans, Luthans, & Avey, 2014; Goertzen & Whitaker, 2015). As the primary part of the spiritual civilization in China, ideological and political education is conductive to improving the overall quality of college students (Meyer, 2016). College students are in a special stage with significantly enhanced self-awareness

Maxism School, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610207, China E-Mail: [email protected]

and independent will. However, due to their limited ability to handle things, it can easily intensify the internal conflicts. PsyCap is regarded as the core of positive psychology, which promotes the mental health development mainly from the four dimensions of hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism (Luthans, Avey, Avolio et al., 2006; Bailey & Williams, 2016). PsyCap has shown high value in the ideological and political education of college students. Therefore, it’s necessary to apply positive PsyCap in the field of ideological and political education (Zhang, Li, Ma et al., 2014).

Foreign economists believe that individuals form relatively stable psychological tendencies or characteristics based on life experience and activities, which mainly refer to individual psychological self-esteem and control ability (Karatepe, Avci, & Sheard, 2017). Some research scholars have found that the higher score of college students' PsyCap indicates a better ideological and political education, and lower

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JING LUO,MENGXIA XIAO 1190

probability of corresponding psychological problems (Zhang, Lamis, & Kong, 2012). With the PsyCap and ideological and political education constantly developing, more attention has been paid by colleges and universities, and the integration between college students' PsyCap and ideological and political education has become increasingly prominent. Studies have shown that both have considerable necessity and possibility of organic integration (Costigan, 2013). The development and cultivation of PsyCap can meet the demands of college students' mental health education, and help to gradually focus on the exploration and application of their positive quality (Yi, 2010). This paper attempts to explore the relationship between the development and cultivation of college students’ PsyCap and ideological and political education using the survey research and statistical analysis method. This shall provide a theoretical basis for the healthy development of psychology, physiology and ideology of college students.

CURRENT SITUATIONS AND PROBLEMS OF

COLLEGE STUDENTS' IDEOLOGICAL AND

POLITICAL EDUCATION

In an era of rapid social growth and multi-thinking impact, contemporary college students are faced with the increasingly complicated interpersonal communication and unoptimistic

employment situation, which seriously

influences college students' attitudes toward ideological and political education (Lin, Sun, & Yang, 2015). At present, China's ideological and political education curriculum is uniformly regulated by the Ministry of Education. Its training objective is to make college students become builders and successors of the socialist cause with all-round development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, beauty and labour (Lang, 2011). The ideological and political education includes the education of ideals and beliefs, the new thinking of patriotism education, the ideological and moral education, and education of the legal system and legal discipline (Li, 2018).

In this paper, a random survey was conducted on the students of the universities in Nanjing by means of questionnaires. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed and 477 valid questionnaires were collected. Figure 1 shows the survey on the necessity of the ideological

and political education course for college students. It can be seen that 42.16% of college students thought it necessary to open an ideological and political course; 33.33% thought it’s necessary; nearly 7% of college students thought it less necessary or unnecessary to set up this course. Figure 2 shows the problems existing in the ideological and political education of college students. It can be seen that the factor of students ignoring ideological and political education themselves occupied the largest proportion, followed by imperfect facilities and weak professional faculty, and the social and parental factors occupied the least. The reasons for this is mainly because college students think the professional courses more important for future work and study, and schools do not perform the related assessment strictly according to the standards, leading to students' laziness in thinking; in addition, the ideological and political education in China still follows the traditional teaching mode, i.e., the classroom instilled education, which causes the students to be obviously tired.

Figure 1

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Investigation on the necessity of

ideological and political education courses

for college students

1.96% 4.9% 17.65% 33.33%

42.16%

Very necessary. Necessary Generally Less necessary Unnecessary

SURVEY RESULTS ANALYSIS

Survey research

In order to study the development of college students' PsyCap, this paper conducts a survey on 600 college students from three universities in Nanjing, and also performs descriptive analysis and correlation analysis of the survey results. Table 1 lists the distribution of specific variables for the subjects, including gender, grade, major, origin, and academic records. The four-dimensional questionnaire of PsyCap and the 7-point scale were used. The average score of the items in each dimension was the score of each dimension. The higher score indicates that the overall level or the level in each dimension of PsyCap is higher.

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PROMOTIVE EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT ON IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 1191

Table 1.

Investigate the distribution of specific variables of research objects

Population variance Number of people Proportion/%

Gender Male 300 50%

Female 300 50%

Grade

First grade 150 25%

Second grade 150 25%

Third grade 150 25%

Fourth grade 150 25%

Major Literature and history 200 33.33%

Science and engineering 400 66.67%

Origin of student Countryside 257 42.83%

Town 343 57.17%

Academic record Good 179 29.83%

General 421 70.17%

Table 2.

Psychological capital questionnaire and the reliability coefficient of each factor

Questionnaire overall Self-efficiency Toughness Hope Optimistic

Reliability coefficient 0.919 0.852 0.758 0.850 0.746

Figure 2

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Problems existing in ideological

and political education of college students

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65

Other Students'own factors School factors Social factors Low professional quality Weak teacher resources Imperfect facilities

P

ro

p

o

rt

io

n

/%

Existing problems

The reliability coefficient of the data refers to the index of obtaining the accuracy and reliability of the data. The reliability coefficient is positively correlated with the credibility of the measurement. Table 2 lists the reliability coefficients of PsyCap questionnaire and each factor. It can be seen that the reliability coefficient of the overall questionnaire was the highest, followed by self-efficacy and hope dimension, and that in the dimension of resilience and optimism was also acceptable.

Overall analysis for the development and cultivation of college students' psychological capital

PsyCap is the inherent psychological trait of an individual, and a psychological state influenced by many factors, especially the situational factors. It’s a state of easy change and development, and also has a trait of stability and difficulty to change. The PsyCap scores were used to evaluate college students' PsyCap development and cultivation. Figure 3 shows the basic scores of PsyCap and each dimension. It can be clearly seen that the overall score of PsyCap and the scores of each dimension all showed a high level; the hope dimension scored the highest, followed by the optimism dimension and the PsyCap.

Figure 3

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Psychological capital and basic

score of each dimension of college students

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Psychological capital Optimistic

Hope Toughness Self-efficiency

Me

an

sc

o

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Figure 4

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Comparison of psychological capital under different influence factors

3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0

Me

an

sc

o

re

Male Female

Self-efficiency Toughness Hope Optimistic Psychological capital 2

3 4 5 6 7

Me

an

sc

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re

First grade Second grade Third grade Fourth grade

Self-efficiency Toughness Hope Optimistic Psychological capital

(a) Gender (b) Grade

3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5

Me

an

sc

o

re

Literature and history Science and engineering

Self-efficiency Toughness Hope Optimistic Psychological capital 3.0

3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5

Me

an

sc

o

re

Countryside Town

(c) Major (d) Origin of student

3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5

Me

an

sc

o

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Good General

(e) Academic record

Through the variable difference test, the overall situation of the development and training of college students' PsyCap was obtained. Figure 4 compares the PsyCap under different influencing factors. Figure 4 (a) shows that in terms of the gender factor, the total score

of male students’ PsyCap and the scores of each dimension were higher than female students, and the male and female students showed significant differences in the self-efficacy, resilience, and hope dimension, and PsyCap; Figure 4(b) shows that for the grade factor, with

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the growth of grade level, the scores of PsyCap and each dimension were reduced, and the different grades had significant differences in PsyCap and its various dimensions; Figure 4(c) shows that in terms of the professional factor, the students in science and engineering scored higher than those of liberal arts students, and the students of different professions had significant differences in self-efficacy dimension, resilience dimension and PsyCap, but no significant difference in the dimensions of hope and the optimism; Figure 4(d) shows clearly that for the origin of the students, the students of urban areas scored higher than those rural students in all dimensions and PsyCap; the independent sample t test was conducted to find that the origin of students had a significant impact on the self-efficacy, but not on the other dimensions and the PsyCap. Figure 4(e) shows the factors of academic records, in which the students with good academic records scored higher than those common students in each dimension and PsyCap, and the students with different academic records showed significant differences in all dimensions and PsyCap.

The relationship between college students' psychological capital and ideological and political education

At the college level, the positive psychological qualities exhibited by college students can be developed and cultivated. The survey results of this paper have shown that the positive psychological factors exhibited by college students after ideological and political education can be measured, stably reflected and developed. The development and cultivation of college students' PsyCap helps to promote and encourage the study of college students' ideological and political education, and thus has a positive impact on the main life events of college students, promoting the better development of individuals. PsyCap has a regulating effect on the attitude of ideological and political education. Assuming that college students' ideological and political education is the outcome variable, then PsyCap can influence the outcome variables. In the actual learning process of college students' ideological and political, with the learning situation, time and individual's space constantly changing, the factors affecting the ideological and political learning of college students may occur at the same time, that is, PsyCap and ideological and

political education aren’t the simple linear relationship, but the former has a promotive effect on the latter.

STRATEGIES FOR THE EFFECT OF COLLEGE

STUDENTS' PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL ON

IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION

Factors affecting the effective integration of college students' psychological capital and ideological and political education

The PsyCap of college students is closely related to mental health education, while mental health education and ideological and political education are homologous and interconnected. Figure 5 shows the factors effectively integrating the PsyCap of college students with the ideological and political education. The integrating factors include internal factors and external factors: the internal factors involve the homology of the subject basis and theoretical basis, the homogeneity of the educational goals and content, and the duality of subject and object, etc.; external factors involves the objective promotion of the educational environment, the need for the effective improvement of ideological and political education, and the need to cultivate localization of PsyCap. Effective integration between the college students' PsyCap and ideological and political education can help college students to exert their subjective consciousness, enhance their ideological and moral and PsyCap levels, thereby promoting students' all-round healthy development to better adapt to society.

Suggestions on the development and cultivation of college students' psychological capital

The survey shows that various factors have significant influence on PsyCap and its various dimensions to varying degrees. In order to promote the effectiveness of ideological and political education for college students, it is necessary to improve the PsyCap of college students. Figure 6 shows the dimensional model of PsyCap development. The development of PsyCap is mainly to form a continuous and real performance impact. Its four dimensions all contain two development dimensions. This paper gives corresponding suggestions from the school level and individual level.

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Figure 5

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Psychological capital of college students and the effectiveness of ideological and

political education fit factors

Psychological capital of college students and the effectiveness of ideological and political education

fit factors

Internal elements

External elements

Homology of subject basis and theoretical basis

Homogeneity of educational objective and content

Duality of subject and object

Objective promotion of educational environment

The need to improve the effectiveness of ideological and political education

The demand of localization of ideological and political education

Figure 6

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Psychological capital development dimensional model

Target and path design

Design of Implementing Obstacles

Establishing self-efficacy

Develop positive expectations

Experience success in imitating others

Persuasion and awakening

Constructing resources to avoid harm

Change the impact process

Hope

Optimistic

Self-efficacy

Toughness

Continuous and real performance impact

Development dimension Psychological

capital

Development contents

First of all, at the school level, it is necessary to strengthen the development and cultivation of college students' PsyCap, and focus on the mental health education of college students. Considering the lower scores of female students in PsyCap and each dimension, schools should formulate corresponding measures to guide and

help female college students for the

establishment of PsyCap; in addition, female college students are more susceptible to emotions and environment, so schools should organize more activities or lectures to better play the advantages of girls' sensibility and exquisiteness. With the increase of grades, the students’ scores of PsyCap and each dimension decrease reduced, mainly because their

independent thinking and interpersonal

relationship of college students are more complicated, and greater academic and work pressure increase their psychological burden.

Secondly, at the individual level, college students need to be guided for the development and cultivation of their PsyCap, so as to develop self-efficacy and enhance anti-frustration ability, enhance psychological resilience, cultivate optimistic attitude, enrich various strategies and paths to effectively solve problems and break through difficulties, and promote hope by designing effective goals.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper aims to explore the relationship between the development and cultivation of college students’ PsyCap and ideological and political education using the survey research and statistical analysis method, which shall provide a theoretical basis for the development of psychological, physiological and ideological

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health of college students. The specific conclusions are as follows:

(1) The survey results show that more than 75% of college students considered it very necessary or unnecessary to open an ideological and political course, but nearly 7% thought that it’s less necessary and unnecessary. In terms of the reasons, the factor of students ignoring the importance of ideological and political education themselves occupied the largest proportion, followed by imperfect facilities and weak professional faculty, and the social and parental factors occupied the least;

(2) Factors such as gender, grade, major, origin and academic achievement all affected the development of PsyCap and its various dimensions to varying degrees;

(3) The effective integration of college students' PsyCap and ideological and political education helps the college students to exert their subjective consciousness, enhance the ideological and moral and PsyCap level of college students, and promote their all-round healthy development for better adapting to the society.

Acknowledgement

The study was supported by “2019 Ministry of Education National Excellent Middle and Young People Ideological and Political Theory Teachers Merit-based Funding Program (Grant No. 19JDSZK173)”. The study was also funded by “Sichuan university (Grant No. 2017skzx-sb40)”.

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