Materialistic values and depression in medical students:the mediating effect of meaning in life / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the relationship between materialistic values and depression in medical students.@*METHODS@#A random sample of 1158 college students from a medical university in Guangdong Province was investigated using the materialism tendency scale (MTS), the simplified version of purpose in life test (PIL-SF) and the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9).@*RESULTS@#The survey showed that 17.33% of the students had obvious depressive symptoms. A negative correlation was found between the materialistic values and the meaning in life (=-0.229, < 0.01) in these students; materialistic values were positively correlated with depression (=0.246, < 0.01), and the meaning in life was negatively correlated with depression (=-0.476, < 0.01). Meaning in life mediated the relationship between materialistic values and depression, which accounted for 41.2% of the total effects.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Meaning in life partially mediates the relationship between materialistic values and depression.