Exploration of the differences in positive-negative psychological factors influencing the life satisfaction and depression of college students by gender and family economic level

This study identifies the factors affecting life satisfaction and depression of Korean college students and analyzes the differences between gender and family economic level in positive (self-esteem, ego-resilience, self-identity, life satisfaction) and negative emotions (attention deficit, aggression, depression, social withdrawal). The data from the 7th year of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) conducted by the Korea Youth Policy Research Institute (KCYPS) with a total of 2,351 university students were used, and finally, 1220 subjects were selected. The statistical analysis methods of T-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis were utilized with SPSS 23. The male students had significantly higher positivity than female students except for attention deficit. Those who said that they had a higher family economic background had significantly higher positive emotions and lower negative emotions except social withdrawal. Aggression had the greatest influence on depression, and the higher the satisfaction of life and self-esteem, the lower the depression. In terms of life satisfaction, self-esteem and self-resilience were identified as positive factors and depression as a negative factor. In other words, to increase the life satisfaction of college students, an intervention program to increase self-esteem and lower depression will be needed.


Introduction
*Life satisfaction is an important factor for a healthy life. In the context of Korea, the satisfaction of college students after completing severe entrance examinations is important for healthy college life, academic achievement, and successful career development. The psychological construct of 'satisfaction with life' is understood as a cognitive component of subjective well-being (Pavot and Diener, 2008). Life satisfaction is defined as "a judgment process in which an individual evaluates his or her quality of life based on his or her own criteria" by Pavot and Diener (1993). Therefore, the appraisal of life satisfaction is based on a cognitive evaluation of an individual's overall quality of lifebased on self-selected criteria (Pavot and Diener, 1993). Studies have shown that demographic variables (e.g., gender, socioeconomic status) play a very small role with respect to life satisfaction among adolescents (Proctor et al., 2009). Studies that have found gender differences generally report that boys score higher in life satisfaction than girls (Goldbeck et al., 2007). Life satisfaction is a central construct with respect to other emotional, social, and behavioral constructs (Proctor et al., 2009). Socioeconomic status including income and educational level has a moderate effect on life satisfaction (Dubois and Tevendale, 1999;Moksnes and Espnes, 2013).
Among the factors influencing life satisfaction, there are self-concept and self-esteem, especially for adolescents and early adult college students. According to Dubois and Tevendale (1999), selfesteem is a psychological vaccine that can protect against all kinds of developmental problems. Indeed, there are many kinds of research that self-esteem significantly gives an influence on mental health and life satisfaction (Moksnes and Espnes, 2013). The self-concept is an individual's view of oneself and is called self-esteem. In other words, self-esteem is an individual's judgment of how valuable "I am". One of the self-concepts is a sense of self-identity in which one realizes who they are, and it has been reported that those whose self-identity is not established have a high score for depression (Sowislo and Orth, 2013). In the field of health research, the relationship between self-esteem and depression has been widely studied over many years (Sowislo and Orth, 2013;Trzesniewski et al., 2006). The variables of depression, self-esteem, and self-identity are closely related to each other.
Depression is another critical issue in the lives of college students. Depressed college students feel low self-worth and negatively evaluate themselves, which damages their self-esteem. The results of a survey conducted by the Dong-A newspaper company on 607 young people aged 20 to 29 from March 5 to 19, 2021 found out how difficult times young people are having with depression and frustration amid the recent COVID-19 crisis. A total of 501 people (82.5%) answered that they usually experience depression or frustration, and 51.3% of them cited the difficulty in finding employment as the biggest reason. Depression refers to a state of mind that has a negative impact on the overall daily life from thinking, attitude, perception, and cognition to interpersonal relationships. Depression is accompanied by various psychological problems, and painful emotional reactions such as frustration, guilt, worthlessness, loneliness, and hopelessness, leading to negative and pessimistic thoughts, and furthermore to self-deprecation and suicidal thoughts, where they consider themselves as incompetent, inferior, and worthless (Kim et al., 2014). Depression experienced by college students varies from mild depression to severe psychotic conditions that interfere with their daily lives (Sowislo and Orth, 2013;Trzesniewski et al., 2006;Kim et al., 2014).
Low socioeconomic status (SES) has been found to be associated with a higher prevalence of depression. Lorant et al. (2003) performed a metaanalysis and found that low socioeconomic status is related to the prevalence of depression (Lorant et al., 2003). In a study on the relationship between depression and socioeconomic status in Korea, Cho et al. (1998) found that a nationwide sample analysis is similar to that of previous studies in foreign countries. Kang and Chi (2021) categorized selfefficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience as positive psychological capital and all were found to be factors affecting depression. Among the four factors of positive psychological capital, self-efficacy was found to be the most influential factor. From these results, the lower the self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience, the higher the perception of depression among college students.
It is necessary to pay attention to the positive psychological state of trying to solve the current difficulties and look at the future from a positive perspective. Positive psychological factors refer to a positive psychological state of an individual to perform well in a given task and achieve successful results (Luthans and Youssef, 2007). It is not innate but can be changed with effort, so it is a psychological factor that changes an individual's attitude and affects behavioral results (Luthans and Youssef, 2007). Therefore, if a positive psychological state is maintained, we can be mentally and physically healthy and achieve the expected performance in the work given to us (Youssef-Morgan and Luthans, 2015). On the other hand, there is a need to decrease the negative psychological state.
Therefore, this study aims to explore the differences in negative or positive psychological factors by gender and family economic level and to find out the most influencing factors on life satisfaction and depression among college students using the psychological variables used in the Korea Child and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS). There are four factors (self-esteem, ego-resilience, self-identity, life satisfaction) in the category of the positive domain and four factors (attention deficit, aggression, depression, social withdrawal) in the negative domain. The specific research questions are as follows:  First, what is the difference between positive and negative psychological factors according to the gender of college students?  Second, what is the difference between positive and negative psychological factors according to the family economic level of college students?  Third, what are the psychological factors that affect the depression of college students?  Fourth, what are the psychological factors that affect the life satisfaction of college students?

Research subjects
The data from Korea Children's Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) conducted by the Korea Youth Policy Institute were used in this study. The KCYPS was implemented in 2010 to identify the patterns of growth and development in children and adolescents. A total of 7,071 samples were selected from 16 provinces, including 1st graders and 4th graders in elementary schools, and 1st graders in middle schools, using the multi-step cluster sampling method. In this study, the first year of middle school in 2010 and the first year of college students in 2016 was targeted. Of the 2,351 samples extracted, the last 1,220 questionnaires excluding the missing data from the questionnaire responses related to this study were used for the final analysis. The demographic characteristics of the survey subjects are shown in Table 1. There were 575 male students (47.1%) and 645 female students (52.9%). Looking at the economic level of their families reported directly by college students, 233 (19.1%) answered that they are living well, 781 (64.0%) of them are average, and 206 (16.9%) of them are low.

Instruments
In total, eight variables were assessed. All scales consisted of a four-point Likert scale (not at all=1, no =2, yes=3, and very much=4). The reversed items were reversely coded, so the higher the sum of the items, the higher the variables. The variables were categorized into positive and negative factors.

Positive factors
As for the positive emotions in this study, four variables were chosen from the section of socialemotional development in the KCYPS database. Selfesteem used by Rosenberg (1965) has 10 items. Egoresilience is composed of 14 items by Block and Kremen (1996). Self-identity consists of 8 items. Life satisfaction consists of 3 items. All four scales consisted of a 4-point Likert scale (not at all=1, no =2, yes=3, and very much=4). The reversed items were reversely coded, so the higher the sum of the items, the higher the variables. Cronbach's alpha for self-esteem, ego-resilience, self-identity, and life satisfaction are .843, .826, .722, and .781, respectively. The specific items of the four positive factors are in Table 2.

Negative factors
As for the negative emotions in this study, four variables were chosen from the section of socialemotional development in the KCYPS database. Attention deficit and aggression were extracted from the scale by Jo and Im (2003) and each variable has 7 and 6 items respectively. Depression consists of 9 items taken from Simple Mental Diagnostic Tested by Kim and Kim (1998). Social withdrawal consists of 5 items by Kim and Kim (1998). All four scales consisted of a four-point Likert scale (not at all=1, no =2, yes=3, and very much=4). The reversed items were reversely coded, so the higher the sum of the items, the higher the variables. Cronbach's alpha for attention deficit, aggression, depression, and social withdrawal are .797, .807, .829, and .894, respectively. The specific items of the four negative factors are in Table 3. I like to try new things that I have never done well I tend to make a good impression on people I enjoy trying new foods I am a very energetic person When I go to the same place, I like to go a different route than the one I always took I am more curious than others I usually think a lot before I act I like new and different kinds of work My life is full of interesting things every day I can confidently say that I am a strong-willed person When I get angry with other people, I get better quickly I like most people I meet

Data analysis
The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. First, students' personal variables and positive-negative psychological variables (selfesteem, ego-resilience, self-identity, life satisfaction, attention deficit, aggression, depression, social withdrawal) were analyzed by descriptive statistics such as frequency, minimum score, maximum score, mean and standard deviation. Second, the differences among the variables (self-esteem, egoresilience, self-identity, life satisfaction, attention deficit, aggression, depression, social withdrawal) according to gender and family economic level were verified with t-test and one-way ANOVA. Third, a correlation analysis (Pearson's Correlation Coefficient Analysis) was conducted to examine the correlation between students' psychological variables. Fourth, stepwise multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyze the effects of positive and negative psychological variables on life satisfaction and depression.

Descriptive statistics of main variables
The mean of positive psychological factors (M=2.83) was higher than that of negative psychological factors (M=1.96). In positive psychological factors, self-esteem with a value of 2.95 was the highest, followed by life satisfaction with 2.85, ego-resilience with 2.84, and self-identity with 2.67. In negative psychological factors, social withdrawal with a score of 2.20 was the highest, followed by attention deficit with 2.05, depression with 1.81, and aggression with 1.78 (Table 4, Fig. 1). The means and standard deviation of each item in four positive psychological factors are shown in Table 5. In terms of self-esteem, the item "sometimes I think I am useless*" is the highest (M=3.22), followed by "sometimes I feel like I am useless*" (M=3.20). As these are reverse items, the subjects did not feel like they are useless. The item "I wish I could have a little more respect for myself*" was the least (M=2.13) and it means that the level at which the college students respect themselves was the lowest. In terms of ego-resilience, they tend to be generous with friends was the highest (M=3.20) and the score of the item "when I go to the same place, I like to go a different route than the one I always took" was the least. In terms of self-identity, there was no item more than three-point. The highest score was from the item "I feel uncomfortable when I am with people*" (M=2.86) and the lowest score was from the item "I am receptive to others' words and easy to be influenced by other people's words and actions*." In terms of life satisfaction, they enjoy living the most (M=3.06) but they tend to have some worries (M=2.47). The means and standard deviation of each item in the four negative psychological factors are shown in Table 6. In terms of attention deficit, the item "I don't want to do a task that requires me to concentrate for a long time" was the highest (M=2.36). The item "even after being praised or punished, I quickly 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Self-esteem Ego-resilience Self-identity Life satisfaction Attention deficit Aggression Depression Social withdrawal become distracted again" was the least (M=1.92). In terms of aggression, all six items are less than two points, so the level of aggression of the college students does not seem to be high. Out of them, the item "sometimes I quibble at even small things" was the highest (M=1.96) and the score of the item "sometimes I cry for no reason" was the lowest. In terms of social withdrawal, the highest score was from the item "I am very shy" (M=2.33) and the lowest score was from the item "it is difficult to express my opinion clearly to others." In terms of depression, nine items were less than two points and only one item was more than two points including "I am worried a lot" (M=2.30) and the item "I feel like dying" which was the lowest.

Differences in positive-negative psychological factors by gender
As a result of analyzing the difference in psychological factors according to the gender of students, statistically, significant differences were found in all psychological variables except for attention deficit. In this study, male students showed higher positivity than female students in all four positive factors, and all male students showed low negativity in all three negative factors except attention deficit. Table 7 shows a difference in positive-negative psychological factors by gender (n=1,220).

Differences in positive-negative psychological factors by family economic level
As a result of analyzing the difference in emotional factors according to the level of the family economic level, statistically, significant differences were found in all seven variables except for social withdrawal. The student group who reported that the family economic level was high showed the highest positivity in all the positive psychological statuses and the lowest score in the four negative psychological factors. The level of family economic level influences the psychological factors of college students. Table 8 shows a difference in positivenegative emotions by family economic level (n=1,220).

Correlation between psychological factors
Generally, all eight variables were significantly correlated with each other. Life satisfaction had a statistically significant positive correlation with all three positive psychological factors, and among them, it showed the highest relationship with selfesteem (r=.605). On the other hand, life satisfaction had a statistically significant negative relationship with all four negative factors, among which depression showed the highest negative relationship (r=-.599). Depression had the highest negative relationship with self-esteem (r=-.635), and the lowest statistic relationship with ego-resilience (r=-.399). The social withdrawal had the highest negative relationship with self-identity (r=-.570) and the lowest relationship with life satisfaction (r=-.321). Aggression had the strongest correlation with attention deficit (r=.557) and the weakest relationship with ego-resilience (r=-.237). Table 9 shows the correlation among variables. .521 ** 1 SE(Self-esteem); ER(Ego-resilience); SI(Self-identity); LS(Life satisfaction); AD(Attention deficit); AG(Aggression); DE(Depression); SW(Social withdrawal); , **p<.01

Factors affecting college students' depression
First, the level of explanations of self-esteem, aggression, life satisfaction, and social withdrawal was 63.2% (r2=0.632), and this regression model was statistically significant (F=524.331, p<0.001). To grasp the relative influence, the standardization coefficients were found to be aggression (0.334), life satisfaction (-0.277), self-esteem (-0.252), and social withdrawal (0.207). The higher the level of aggression and social withdrawal and the lower the degree of self-esteem and life satisfaction, the more influence on depression. Tolerance and VIF statistics were checked to identify multicollinearity problems. As a result, the tolerance value was less than 1.0, the VIF value was less than 10, and the Durbin-Watson value was 1.897, which was close to 2, thus it did not have the problem of multicollinearity. Table 10 shows factors affecting the increase of depression of college students by multiple regression analysis.

Factors affecting college students' life satisfaction
First, the level of explanations of self-esteem, attention deficit, and depression was 46.5% (r2=0.465), and this regression model was statistically significant (F=353.866, p<0.001). To grasp the relative influence, the standardization coefficients were found to be depression (-0.338), self-esteem (0.302), and self-resilience (0.174). The higher the level of self-esteem and self-resilience, and the lower the degree of depression, the more influence on life satisfaction. Tolerance and VIF statistics were checked to identify multicollinearity problems. As a result, the tolerance value was less than 1.0, the VIF value was less than 10, and the Durbin-Watson value was 1.912, which was close to 2 so it did not have the problem of multicollinearity. Table 11 shows factors affecting the increase of life satisfaction of college students by multiple regression analysis.

Conclusion
This study aims to find the current psychological status of college students, to examine the differences of positive (self-esteem, ego-resilience, self-identity, life satisfaction) and negative (attention deficit, aggression, depression, social withdrawal) psychological factors, and to explore the psychological factors affecting the life satisfaction and depression of college students. This study used the data from the Korea Child and Youth Survey (KCYPS) and screened the data of college students.
First, the mean of positive psychological factors was higher than the negative factors among college students. Self-esteem was the highest, followed by life satisfaction, ego-resilience, and self-identity. In negative psychological factors, social withdrawal was the highest, followed by attention deficit, depression, and aggression. These results report that there is a need to make higher self-identity among college students and to lower their social withdrawal. As college students in Korea find it increasingly difficult to find a job, they experience confusion about their identity as college students. This is because it is difficult to set goals for how to conduct college life, such as whether they need to be a student studying academics or a person preparing for a job. The social withdrawal of Korean university students is also related to the reality of difficulties in finding employment and the cultural reality in which college life as a community is less emphasized amid growing individualistic tendencies. The fact that college students have a low sense of self-identity and low social withdrawal indicates that there is a relationship between the two variables. In other words, to improve social withdrawal, it is necessary to raise self-identity as a healthy self-concept of college students and to enhance progressive attitude.
Second, when analyzing the difference in psychological factors according to the gender and family economic level of students, male students showed higher positivity and lower negativity than female students. That is, in this study, male students are more positive than female students and this result could be interpreted because, in Korea, female students are more sensitive and get more stress from a difficult situation in which getting a job or obtaining good grades are not easy in college. Regarding the economic level, the group of students who reported their family economic level is high is more positive in psychological status. This result is consistent with the study by Lorant et al. (2003). It is known that socioeconomic status gives an impact on the stability of the psychological status of university students (Dubois and Tevendale, 1999;Moksnes and Espnes, 2013;Lorant et al., 2003).
Third, aggression, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and social withdrawal affected depression. To decrease the depression of college students, aggression and social withdrawal should decrease and self-esteem and life satisfaction should increase. Programs to develop self-esteem and social competency for college students are easier than programs dealing with aggression and life satisfaction. Depression, self-esteem, and selfresilience influenced life satisfaction. To make intervention programs to level up life satisfaction, programs are needed to raise self-esteem and selfresilience. The life satisfaction of college students was negatively related to depression, and depression was closely related to aggression. To increase life satisfaction, depression is reduced. At this time, as a program to reduce depression, self-esteem or selfresilience can be increased. It is defined by Rosenberg (Cho et al., 1998) that self-esteem is an individual's feelings and thoughts on one's own importance. It reflects the concept of "global" or "general" self-esteem. Self-esteem is a large part of a college student's self-understanding and can be a dynamic component that is susceptible to internal and external influences in early adulthood. Pavot and Diener (2008) reported that both self-esteem and life satisfaction represent a person's global assessment.
As in previous studies, when this study found out that self-esteem is the factor that most affects the life satisfaction of university students, in the future, universities will be able to develop and proceed with programs to increase students' self-esteem.
The college student period is an intermediate stage of transition from childhood to adulthood, and various experiences are made according to developmental changes. In addition, it is known that internalizing problems such as depression, anxiety, and social withdrawal, and externalizing problems such as aggression and delinquency, occur when the developmental task is not successfully performed during the development process (Trzesniewski, 2006). In other words, it is predicted that the internalizing problem behavior of social withdrawal in college students directly affects the externalizing problem behavior of aggression and lowers life satisfaction (Agnew, 1992).

Funding
Funding for this paper was provided by Namseoul University.

Conflict of interest
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.