Impact of life events on mental health of recruits: The mediating effects of negative cognitive processing bias / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective: To explore the relationship of life events, negative cognitive processing bias (NCPB) and mental health of recruits. Methods: The Life Events Scale (LES), NCPB questionnaire and Military Mental Health Scale (MHS) were used for investigation in 2193 recruits from a certain troop. The SPSS 22.0 software was used to analyze the data. T-test and ANOVA were adopted to explore the influence of demographic factors on the mental health of recruits. Correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationship of life events and NCPB to the mental health of recruits. The influence of life events and NCPB on the mental health of recruits was investigated by regression analysis. The mediating effect analysis was conducted for in-depth discussing the influence of NCPB in life events on the mental health of recruits. Results: Male and highly educated recruits had significantly higher scores in mental health ability and quality (P<0.01, P<0.05). Scores of life events and NCPB total score and its factors were negatively correlated with the mental health ability and quality of recruits (r=-0.07-0.46, P<0.01), and positively correlated with the mental health status (r=0.08-0.45, P<0.01). The mental health status of recruits was predictable with negative events, negative atention bias and negative rumination bias in an interpretation rate of 24.1%. Path analytic model showed that NCPB mediated the relationship between life events and mental health of recruits. Conclusion: Life events and NCPB are closely related with the mental health of recruits, and NCPB acts as an intermediary between life events and mental health; reduces life events and NCPB is helpful in maintaining and promoting the mental health of recruits.