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
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
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
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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