Role of Assertiveness and Social Support in Psychological Distress among University Students

Abstract

The present study was aimed to explore the role of asseltiveness and social support in psychological distress among university students. To measure the study variables, Urdu versions of The College self-expression Scale: Measure of Assertiveness (Galassi, 1974) translated by (Aftab, 2016), Perceived Social SUppOlt Scale translated by (Y ounis, 2016), and Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (Lovibond, Sydney, & Lovibond, 1995) translated in Urdu (Aslam, 2007) were used. The sample consisted of 300 university students (Girls = 150, Boys = 150) from different universities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad. Alpha reliabilities for the measures were in acceptable range. Various statistical analyses were run to test the hypotheses. Correlation analysis showed significant positive relationship of asseltiveness and social SUppOlt and negative relationship with psychological distress. Mean differences along gender revealed significant results, boys score high on asseltiveness. Regression analysis showed that significant negative prediction in psychological distress is caused by asseltiveness followed by family based social support. Mediation analysis computed through Process Macro showed social SUppOlt as a significant mediator for asseltiveness in predicting psychological distress. Among demographic variables, age of the participants was significantly conelated with the social support domain related to university. Number of friends was significantly positively correlated with asseltiveness. Monthly income was significantly positively con'elated with social SUppOlt domain related to family. One way ANOV A was also computed across demographic variables. Pruticipants who studied in MPhil level education significantly perceived more social support than other education levels. Pruticipants whose fathers were holding govemment jobs scored significantly high on with assertiveness than pruticipants holding private jobs and personal business. Further, participants with mother's education of graduate level experienced more distress than others. While, participants with father's education of graduate level experience more distress than others. Findings were discussed in theoretical context and in1plications of the study were fumished.