The Predictive Value of Virtue: Many Virtues Predict Lower Depression and Anxiety Symptom Scores Among College Students…But Gratitude Dominates

Depression and anxiety symptoms have risen in the last decade, especially among college students. Virtues are potentially strong predictive factors of mental health symptoms, but a minimal amount of research has explored which virtues are the strongest predictors. We examined the relative predictive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of college and character Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 140 - 158
Main Authors Greenway, Tyler S., Ming, Mason S., Ratchford, Juliette L., Glanzer, Perry L., Dougherty, Kevin D., Schnitker, Sarah A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.05.2024
Subjects
Anxiety
College students
Mental depression
Mental health
Values
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Summary:Depression and anxiety symptoms have risen in the last decade, especially among college students. Virtues are potentially strong predictive factors of mental health symptoms, but a minimal amount of research has explored which virtues are the strongest predictors. We examined the relative predictive strength of gratitude, forgiveness, patience, intellectual humility, and self-control using dominance analyses. Results suggested that gratitude had the strongest predictive value for lower anxiety and depressive symptom scores compared to forgiveness, intellectual humility, patience, and self-control. An implication of these findings is that when considering intervention work with young emerging adults, researchers may do well to start with gratitude, then promote other virtues such as forgiveness and self-control.
ISSN:2194-587X
1940-1639
DOI:10.1080/2194587X.2024.2326228