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Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°1, 816-823

DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.111 816

I

NFLUENCE OF

P

SYCHOLOGICAL

C

APITAL

C

ONSTRUCTION ON THE

C

OMPREHENSIVE

Q

UALITY OF

H

IGHER

E

DUCATION

Hao Jin

*

Abstract

The institutions of higher education are the cradle of future talents. The psychological capital (PsyCap) construction is an important task of higher education. This paper attempts to disclose how PsyCap construction affects the comprehensive quality of higher education, i.e. the professional learning, practical ability and emotion control of college students. First, the author summed up the overall state and demographic differences of PsyCap of college students and those of the comprehensive quality of higher education. Next, the relationship among PsyCap construction, optimistic emotion and comprehensive quality of higher education was discussed in details. The relevant evaluation indices were tested by the original and modified structural equation model. The results show that the college students have a relatively high level of PsyCap; the comprehensive quality of higher education has a positive correlation with both PsyCap construction and optimistic emotion; PsyCap construction shows a greater promoting effect than optimistic emotion on the comprehensive quality of higher education. The research results provide suggestions on improving the mental health of college students and the comprehensive quality of higher education.

Key words: Psychological Capital (PsyCap), Higher Education, Comprehensive Quality, Optimistic Emotion.

Received: 19-01-19 | Accepted: 22-07-19

INTRODUCTION

Along with the rapid development of social economy, higher education has made brilliant achievements, but it also faces new challenges (Avey, Luthans, & Jensen, 2009). The problems

of students’ comprehensive quality in higher

education have gradually aroused people’s

attention (Chen & Lim, 2012). Relevant

researches show that a series of problems in the development of higher education need to be solved urgently under the challenge of knowledge economy and the restriction of traditional education mode (Roche, Haar, & Luthans, 2014). First of all, the difference in talent cultivation in higher education becomes

smaller and smaller, and sometimes even can’t

Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an University of Finance and Economics, Xi’an 710100, China.

E-Mail: jh_olympic@163.com

meet the needs of social development (Peterson, Waldman, Balthazard et al., 2008). In addition, the employment situation of college students is grim, and there are a lot of college students who are unable to find desirable jobs after graduation (Li,Yan, & Cheng, 2017). According to the survey

of college students’ psychological health status

organized by the National Association of College

Students’ Psychology, more than half of college

students have psychological health problems of varying degrees due to the pressure of interpersonal communication, learning and

employment (Finkelstein, Kubzansky, Capitman

et al., 2007; Story,Youssef, Luthans et al., 2013), mainly characterized by obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism, anxiety, paranoia, depression, schizophrenia, and neurasthenia, (Luthans, Avolio, Avey et al., 2007; DelloRusso &Stoykova, 2015). These problems have aroused the concern of the whole society and need to be faced by colleges and universities and country.

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Table 1.

Differentiated distribution of psychological capital construction on demographic variables

(M ± SD)

Index Group Self-efficacy Hope Optimistic Toughness Psychological capital

Gender Male 3.48±0.49 3.58±0.42 3.61±0.61 3.47±0.52 3.52±0.39

Female 3.59±0.51 3.62±0.42 3.79±0.54 3.19±0.42 3.53±0.36

Only child Only 3.63±0.49 3.57±0.47 3.62±0.61 3.36±0.52 3.38±0.42

Not only child 3.46±0.53 3.47±0.49 3.69±0.68 3.25±0.39 3.57±0.49

Biogenic land

Big city 3.78±0.46 3.58±0.46 3.49±0.58 3.60±0.52 3.48±0.43

Medium-sized cities 3.56±0.48 3.48±0.52 3.63±0.69 3.46±0.48 3.57±0.57

Small city 3.49±0.56 4.55±0.48 3.75±0.62 3.33±0.46 3.42±0.54

Parental education

High school and below 3.52±0.42 3.67±0.53 3.78±0.69 3.28±0.39 3.62±0.41

Specialty 3.61±0.49 3.55±0.48 3.51±0.37 3.63±0.42 3.72±0.39

Undergraduate 3.49±0.52 3.34±0.49 3.29±0.49 3.19±0.62 3.43±0.48

Master degree or above 3.51±0.26 3.20±0.33 3.47±0.39 3.52±0.48 3.38±0.24

The current research on improving the comprehensive quality of higher education mainly focuses on improving the level of knowledge and skills, but rarely discusses from the psychological point of view (Luthans, Avey, Avolio et al., 2006; Avey, Nimnicht, & Pigeon, 2010). From the psychological point of view, most researches generally focus on coping of negative psychology, such as the discovery and mitigation of psychological problems, but neglect the development and utilization of

positive mental energy (Ruthig, Haynes,

Stupnisky et al., 2009). Active psychologists believe that every human body has positive and constructive strength at different stages of individual development. If we can guide people to adopt open visual angle and constructive thinking mode through positive psychological guidance and psychological capital construction, we can help college students to improve their comprehensive quality continuously (Gonzalez, 2013). Meanwhile, relevant researches show that psychological capital, as a positive psychological resource, has a significant effect

on students’ psychological state and happiness

(Wang,Sang, Ping et al., 2016). Therefore, it is of

great practical significance to apply

psychological capital construction in improving and promoting the comprehensive quality of higher education.

To sum up, this study is devoted to exploring the role of psychological capital in promoting the comprehensive quality of higher education (Siu, Cheung, & Lui, 2015), thus providing a new perspective for the strategic training of talents in colleges and universities (Calandri, Graziano, Borghi et al., 2018). The results of this study can find an effective way to promote the comprehensive quality of higher education from the psychological point of view.

STATUS QUO OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

Overall state of psychological capital of college students

The overall distribution of psychological capital of college students is shown in Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 1, the psychological capital of college students is in a good state as a whole, and it has the potential of further development if it can be guided.

Figure

1

.

Overall

distribution

of

psychological capital of college students

Difference of psychological capital of college students in demographic variables

The relationship between psychological capital and demographic variables is shown in Table 1 on the basis of four demographic variables such as gender, only child, origin of student, and educational background of parents. It can be found From Table 1 that gender and only child have no obvious difference in psychological capital construction while origin of

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INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION ON THE COMPREHENSIVE QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 818

student has significant difference in the

psychological capital construction

(p=0.216>0.05); educational background of parents has no significant difference in the overall psychological capital construction, but there is significant difference in optimistic emotion and tenacity.

Overall situation of comprehensive quality of higher education

Figure 2 shows the distribution of the comprehensive quality of higher education in terms of cognitive learning, practical ability,

emotional morality and students’ gains.

As shown in Figure 2, the comprehensive quality of college students is in the middle and upper level (greater than the theoretical median 3) in the four dimensions of overall gains,

cognitive learning, practical ability and

emotional morality, indicating that the

comprehensive quality of college students under higher education is high. The gains and development of all dimensions are balanced, and there is potential for further improvement.

Differences of comprehensive quality of higher education in demographic variables

Differences of comprehensive quality of higher education in demographic variables are analyzed, as shown in Table 2.

It can be found from Table 2 that the influence of gender, only child, origin of student and educational background of parents on the comprehensive quality of higher education is significant.

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Table 2.

Average and standard deviation of student’s gains and ea

ch dimension (M ± SD)

Index Group Cognitive

learning

Practical ability

Emotional morality

Student harvest

Gender Male 3.64±0.61 3.77±0.54 3.73±0.73 3.59±0.64

Female 3.71±0.63 3.74±0.54 3.91±0.66 3.31±0.54

Only child Only 3.68±0.61 3.69±0.59 3.74±0.73 3.48±0.64

Not only child 3.58±0.65 3.59±0.61 3.81±0.51 3.37±0.51

Biogenic land

Big city 3.62±0.58 3.74±0.58 3.61±0.69 3.72±0.64

Medium-sized cities 3.71±0.6 3.62±0.64 3.75±0.81 3.58±0.45

Small city 3.61±0.68 3.67±0.49 3.87±0.74 3.45±0.58

Parental education

High school and below 3.64±0.54 3.79±0.65 3.91±0.81 3.47±0.51

Specialty 3.73±0.61 3.67±0.53 3.63±0.49 3.75±0.54

Undergraduate 3.61±0.64 3.46±0.61 3.41±0.61 3.31±0.64

Master degree or

above 3.63±0.38 3.32±0.45 3.59±0.51 3.34±0.58

ANALYSIS ON THE PROMOTION EFFECT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL ON THE COMPREHENSIVE QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Relationship among psychological capital construction, optimistic emotion and comprehensive quality

Optimistic personality and emotion can be

inherited or formed through long-term

development. Although it exhibits different stability at different time and circumstances, it can still be optimized over a long period of time

(Fotiadou, Barlow, Powell et al., 2010).

Researches show that the interaction of

individual optimism and state can collectively affect individual behavior and performance (Bakker,Lyons, & Conlon, 2017). The mechanism of action of psychological capital construction and optimistic emotion on comprehensive quality is shown in Figure 3.

As can be seen from Figure 3, psychological

capital depends on individual internal

characteristics and emotion control, and its development level is bound to be restricted by individual characteristics. At the same time, positive emotion can not only predict psychological capital to a certain extent, but play an important role in the development of short-term psychological capital.

Figure 3

.

Mechanism of action of psychological capital construction and optimistic emotion on

comprehensive quality

Self motivation mechanism

Long-term internalization

Restraint mechanisms Comprehensive

quality improvement

Psychological capital construction Feeling of optimism

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INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION ON THE COMPREHENSIVE QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 820

Test of initial structural equation model

The reliability and structural validity of indicators of psychological capital construction and optimistic emotion are shown in Table 3.

Table 3 shows that α reliability coefficient of each indicator is greater than 0.6, indicating that the internal consistency of each potential variable meets the requirements. In the aspect of variable load, the load of variables except innovation ability and empathy ability all meet the standard. The load of innovation ability and empathy ability is low because college students tend to confuse innovative thinking and critical thinking, resulting in lower validity. In addition, the lack of interaction and communication with friends and classmates due to the non-collective life style of master students and doctoral students, onerous scientific research tasks and employment pressure, leads to the low validity of empathy ability.

The original structural equation model in Figure 4 is established based on the relationship between the optimistic emotion and potential variables of psychological capital construction.

The fitting degree test results of the original model are shown in Table 4.

The results in Table 4 show that all path

indexes are significant at the 0.001 level, except that the path index between optimistic emotion and emotional morality is negative. Thus, optimism has a relatively small impact on emotional morality, so the path between optimism and emotional morality should be removed from the structural model.

Figure 4

.

Initial structural equation model

Psychological capital construction

Cognitive learning

Practical ability

Emotional morality Feeling of

optimism

0.592

0.723

2.672 0.893

0.421

0.294

0.201

Table 3.

Reliability and structural validity of indicators

Latent variable Manifest Variable Mean value Validity Reliability (𝜶)

Feeling of optimism

Outward to inward 2.358 0.652

0.602

Feeling intuition 3.174 0.815

Emotional thinking 3.782 0.694

Intuitive judgment 2.986 0.673

Psychological capital

Cognitive learning 3.459 0.672

0.723

Practical ability 3.482 0.878

Emotional morality 3.519 0.784

Student harvest 3.349 0.693

Cognitive learning

Professional knowledge 3.584 0.729

0.769

Innovation ability 3.392 0.623

Independent thinking 3.679 0.758

Autonomous Learning 3.862 0.825

Critical thinking 3.721 0.725

Practical ability

Information gathering 3.593 0.681

0.783

Data statistics and analysis 3.498 0.799

Oral and written expression 3.602 0.693

Problem solving ability 3.543 0.791

Communication skills 3.617 0.725

Team work 3.683 0.785

Time management and organization plan 3.705 0.816

Emotional morality

Ideal of life 3.582 0.692

0.681

Social responsibility 3.694 0.873

Values and ethics 3.987 0.593

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Table 4.

Fitting degree test of initial structural model

Statistical inspection quantity Adapter standard Fitness index value

Absolute fitness index

𝜒2 𝑃 > 0.5 (not significant level) 865.063(𝑃 = 0.000)

RMR <0.049 0.047

RMSEA <0.078 0.059

GFI >0.089 0.925

AGFI >0.078 0.906

NCP 527.065 the smaller the better

Value added fitness index

NFI >0.86 0.948

RFI >0.87 0.927

IFI >0.85 0.963

TLI >0.91 0.939

CFI >0.92 0.983

Simple fit index

PGFI >0.49 0.627

PNFI >0.47 0.614

PCFI >0.48 0.649

CN >198 25891

𝜒2 Degree of freedom ratio <1.98 1.146

Table 5.

Path coefficients between optimistic emotion, psychological capital construction and

comprehensive quality improvement

Latent variable Path Path

coefficient

Total impact

Feeling of optimism

H1: Feeling of optimism→Psychological capital

construction 0.504 2.389

H2: Feeling of optimism→Comprehensive quality 1.679

Psychological capital construction

H3: Psychological capital construction→Comprehensive

quality 2.782 2.567

Test of modified structural equation model

The modified structural equation model is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5

.

Modified structural equation

model

The path coefficients between optimistic emotion, psychological capital construction and comprehensive quality improvement are shown

in Table 5.

As can be seen from Figure 5 and Table 5, for every 1 unit increase in optimistic emotion and psychological capital of college students, the corresponding comprehensive quality of higher education will be increased by 1.679 units and 2.782 units, respectively. This shows that psychological capital construction and optimistic emotion have positive effect on the promotion of the comprehensive quality of higher education, of which the promotion effect of psychological capital is obviously higher than that of optimistic emotion.

CONCLUSIONS

According to the status quo of college

students’ psychological capital and

comprehensive quality of higher education, this

study puts forward the application of

psychological capital construction to improve the comprehensive quality of college students, and draws the following conclusions:

Feeling of optimism

Psychological capital construction

Cognitive learning

Practical ability

Emotional morality

0.504 0.126

0.708

0.893

0.904

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INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION ON THE COMPREHENSIVE QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION 822

1. Colleges and universities need to continuously optimize the higher education system and realize the diversity and hierarchy of teaching contents, approaches and methods of higher education;

2. In order to cope with the negative psychological state of college students, colleges and universities should actively unite with society and family and carry out universal and professional popular science lectures and group psychology counseling for college students, so as to enhance their positive emotion for coping with frustration and stress;

3. To improve the comprehensive quality of higher education to the maximum extent, it is necessary to carry out psychological capital construction step by step and persistently.

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