ArticleBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2025
The Effect of Upward Social Comparison on Academic Involution Among College Students: Serial Mediating Effects of Self-Esteem and Perceived Stress.
Article in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- When Future Focus Hinders Rest: Temporal Focus, Perceived Involution, and Rest Intolerance Among Chinese University Students.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- How peer support and pressure shape career indecision: the mediating role of career calling and the buffering role of internalized prosocial values.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- College students' psychological resilience and daily recovery: a narrative review.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- The influence mechanism of academic involution behavior among Chinese college students: a moderated mediation analysis based on the JD-R model.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
Academic involution in college students has a significant impact on their physical and mental health; however, its internal psychological mechanism remains unexplored. This study aimed to examine the relationship between upward social comparison and academic involution among college students and investigate the serial mediating role of self-esteem and perceived stress. A questionnaire survey, which included the Upward Social Comparison, Self-Esteem, Chinese Perceived Stress, and College Students' Academic Involution Scales, was conducted with 730 college students via the random sampling method. The results revealed that all pairs of variables were significantly correlated. Furthermore, upward social comparison not only directly influenced college students' academic involution, but also indirectly affected it through the separate mediating roles of self-esteem and perceived stress, as well as the serial mediating effect of both variables. This study enriches the theoretical mechanism of college students' academic involution and offers empirical support for designing mental health education and intervention programs.
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