Perceived Social Support and Life Satisfaction among Final-Year University Students: The Serial Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy and Psychological Distress

Abstract

University students in Pakistan in their last year of degrees are under academic and career stress which can adversely affect their well-being. The aim of the present study was to test if perceived social support is a predictor of life satisfaction among final year university students in a serial mediation model between self-efficacy and psychological distress. A cross-sectional correlational design was used, with 300 final year students (59.0% female) from public and private universities in Lahore were selected through convenient sampling technique. The following scales were administered to participants: the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale. Perceived social support was positively associated with life satisfaction (r = .61) and self-efficacy (r = .61), self-efficacy was negatively associated with psychological distress (r = −.44), and psychological distress was negatively associated with life satisfaction (r = −.47). The indirect effect from self-efficacy to psychological distress, to problem drinking was significant, and the indirect effect from psychological distress alone to problem drinking was significant. The indirect effect from self-efficacy alone to psychological distress was not significant and was not significant to problem drinking. Mediation results were obtained using serial mediation analysis with PROCESS Model 6 and 5,000 bootstrap samples. The direct effect was still present and therefore, this was partial mediation. Results indicated that Social Support contributes to students' life satisfaction, in part, by enhancing their self-efficacy, thereby decreasing their distress, which has implications for university counselling and career-support services.