Psychological capital and anxiety: A study among Gen Z job seekers

Remya Lathabhavan; Revathy Lathabhavan

Authors

Remya Lathabhavan IIM Bodh Gaya https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4666-4748
Revathy Lathabhavan Ramakrishna Ayurvedic Medical College Hospital And Research Centre,

Keywords:

Psychological capital, anxiety, Gen Z, students

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to analyze and explore the relationship between psychological capital and anxiety among students. The authors conducted survey among 424 students from Indian universities and the data obtained from the survey was analysed using a combination of means, standard deviation and correlation. The study presented first elaborates on psychological capital, moves onto Anxiety and transitions into the special anomaly that they share in a measurable and qualitative manner. The inferential studies show us that there is a high negative correlation that exists between psychological capital and anxiety. The study has extended the previous research results in the field of psychological capital as a predictor of anxiety. The study recommends more longitudinal studies in this area. This study helps individuals to understand their own psychological capital and anxiety. This also helps them to understand the importance of keeping a high level of psychological capital. With regard to student’s psychological capital, this is the first study to investigate their relationship with anxiety.

References

Abbas, M., & Raja, U. (2015). Impact of psychological capital on innovative performance and job stress. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l'Administration, 32(2), 128-138.

Arnau, R. C., Rosen, D. H., Finch, J. F., Rhudy, J. L., & Fortunato, V. J. (2007). Longitudinal effects of hope on depression and anxiety: A latent variable analysis. Journal of personality, 75(1), 43-64.

Avey, J. B., Luthans, F., & Mhatre, K. H. (2008). A call for longitudinal research in positive organizational behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 29(5), 705-711.

Avey, J. B., Wernsing, T. S., & Mhatre, K. H. (2011). A longitudinal analysis of positive psychological constructs and emotions on stress, anxiety, and well-being. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 18(2), 216-228

Badran, M. A., & Youssef-Morgan, C. M. (2015). Psychological capital and job satisfaction in Egypt. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 30(3), 354-370.

Bakker, D. J., Lyons, S. T., & Conlon, P. D. (2017). An exploration of the relationship between psychological capital and depression among first-year doctor of veterinary medicine students. Journal of veterinary medical education, 44(1), 50-62.

Bandura, A. (1989). Human agency in social cognitive theory. American psychologist, 44(9), 1175-1184.

Bandura, A. (2006). Guide for constructing self-efficacy scales. Self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents, 5(1), 307-337.

Bagana, E., Raciu, A., & Lupu, L. (2011). Self esteem, optimism and exams’ anxiety among high school students. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 30, 1331-1338.

Balasubramanian, S. A., & Lathabhavan, R. (2017). Women’s glass ceiling beliefs predict work engagement and burnout. Journal of management development.

Balasubramanian, S. A., & Lathabhavan, R. (2018). Linking women's glass ceiling beliefs and employee satisfaction: the mediation of engagement. International journal of human resources development and management, 18(1-2), 72-90.

Baron, R. A., Franklin, R. J., & Hmieleski, K. M. (2016). Why entrepreneurs often experience low, not high, levels of stress: The joint effects of selection and psychological capital. Journal of management, 42(3), 742-768.

Barry, K., Woods, M., Martin, A., Sterling, C., & Warnecke, E. (2016). Daily mindfulness practice increases psychological capital and reduces depression in doctoral students. In 39th Annual Conference of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) (p. 1).

Beck, A. T., Emery, G., & Greenberg, R. L. (2005). Anxiety disorders and phobias: A cognitive perspective. Basic Books.

Beiter, R., Nash, R., McCrady, M., Rhoades, D., Linscomb, M., Clarahan, M., & Sammut, S. (2015). The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students. Journal of affective disorders, 173, 90-96.

Bouckenooghe, D., Zafar, A., & Raja, U. (2015). How ethical leadership shapes employees’ job performance: The mediating roles of goal congruence and psychological capital. Journal of Business Ethics, 129(2), 251-264.

El-Bardan, M. F., & Lathabhavan, R. (2021). Fear of COVID-19 scale: Psychometric properties, reliability and validity in Egyptian population. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews.

Dai, Q., & Chu, R. X. (2018). Anxiety, happiness and self-esteem of western Chinese left-behind children. Child abuse & neglect, 86, 403-413.

Dolcos, S., Hu, Y., Iordan, A. D., Moore, M., & Dolcos, F. (2015). Optimism and the brain: trait optimism mediates the protective role of the orbitofrontal cortex gray matter volume against anxiety. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 11(2), 263-271.

Dull, R. B., Schleifer, L. L., & McMillan, J. J. (2015). Achievement goal theory: The relationship of accounting students’ goal orientations with self-efficacy, anxiety, and achievement. Accounting Education, 24(2), 152-174.

Foley, A. E., Herts, J. B., Borgonovi, F., Guerriero, S., Levine, S. C., & Beilock, S. L. (2017). The math anxiety-performance link: A global phenomenon. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(1), 52-58.

Hjemdal, O., Vogel, P. A., Solem, S., Hagen, K., & Stiles, T. C. (2011). The relationship between resilience and levels of anxiety, depression, and obsessive–compulsive symptoms in adolescents. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 18(4), 314-321.

Jung, H. S., & Yoon, H. H. (2015). The impact of employees’ positive psychological capital on job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors in the hotel. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(6), 1135-1156.

Karatepe, O. M., & Avci, T. (2017). The effects of psychological capital and work engagement on nurses’ lateness attitude and turnover intentions. Journal of Management Development, 36(8), 1029-1039.

Larson, M., & Luthans, F. (2006). Potential added value of psychological capital in predicting work attitudes. Journal of leadership & organizational studies, 13(2), 75-92.

Lathabhavan, R. (2019). Glass ceiling beliefs, performance, and turnover intention through work engagement. International Journal of Environment, Workplace and Employment, 5(4), 304-321.

Lathabhavan, R. (2020). Psychological aspects of women’s career growth constraints and outcomes: A longitudinal study from India. Australian Journal of Career Development, 29(3), 173-184.

Lathabhavan, R., Balasubramanian, S. A., & Natarajan, T. (2017). A psychometric analysis of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale in Indian banking sector. Industrial and Commercial Training.

Lathabhavan, R., Balasubramanian, S. A., & Natarajan, T. (2018). Towards the shattering of glass ceiling in the Indian banking sector: a comparative analysis among public, private and foreign banks. International Journal of Services, Economics and Management, 9(3-4), 248-271.

Lathabhavan, R., & Vispute, S. (2021). Examining the Mediating Effects of Stress on Fear of COVID-19 and Well-being Using Structural Equation Modeling. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 1-9.

Lau, E. Y. Y., Hui, C. H., Lam, J., & Cheung, S. F. (2017). Sleep and optimism: A longitudinal study of bidirectional causal relationship and its mediating and moderating variables in a Chinese student sample. Chronobiology international, 34(3), 360-372.

Legault, L., Anawati, M., & Flynn, R. (2006). Factors favoring psychological resilience among fostered young people. Children and Youth Services Review, 28(9), 1024-1038.

Lin, Y., Mutz, J., Clough, P. J., & Papageorgiou, K. A. (2017). Mental toughness and individual differences in learning, educational and work performance, psychological well-being, and personality: A systematic review. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 1345, 1-15

Liu, L., Pang, R., Sun, W., Wu, M., Qu, P., Lu, C., & Wang, L. (2013). Functional social support, psychological capital, and depressive and anxiety symptoms among people living with HIV/AIDS employed full-time. BMC psychiatry, 13(1), 324.

Lounsbury, J. W., Gibson, L. W., Sundstrom, E., Wilburn, D., & Loveland, J. M. (2004). An empirical investigation of the proposition that ‘school is work’: a comparison of personality–performance correlations in school and work settings. Journal of Education and Work, 17(1), 119-131.

Luthans, F., Luthans, K. W., & Luthans, B. C. (2004). Positive psychological capital: Beyond human and social capital.

Luthans, F., Youssef, C. M., & Avolio, B. J. (2015). Psychological capital and beyond. Oxford University Press, USA.

Luthans, F., & Youssef-Morgan, C. M. (2017). Psychological capital: An evidence-based positive approach. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4, 339-366.

Luthans, F., Youssef, C. M., & Avolio, B. J. (2007). Psychological capital: Developing the human competitive edge.

Macdonald, J. L., & Levy, S. R. (2016). Ageism in the workplace: The role of psychosocial factors in predicting job satisfaction, commitment, and engagement. Journal of Social Issues, 72(1), 169-190.

Mossman, S. A., Luft, M. J., Schroeder, H. K., Varney, S. T., Fleck, D. E., Barzman, D. H., ... & Strawn, J. R. (2017). The Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale in adolescents with generalized anxiety disorder: Signal detection and validation. Annals of clinical psychiatry: official journal of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists, 29(4), 227-234A.

Muris, P. (2002). Relationships between self-efficacy and symptoms of anxiety disorders and depression in a normal adolescent sample. Personality and individual differences, 32(2), 337-348.

Paek, S., Schuckert, M., Kim, T. T., & Lee, G. (2015). Why is hospitality employees’ psychological capital important? The effects of psychological capital on work engagement and employee morale. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 50, 9-26.

Rahimnia, F., Mazidi, A., & Mohammadzadeh, Z. (2013). Emotional mediators of psychological capital on well-being: The role of stress, anxiety, and depression. Management Science Letters, 3(3), 913-926.

Schofield, P. E., Stockler, M. R., Zannino, D., Tebbutt, N. C., Price, T. J., Simes, R. J., ... & Underhill, C. (2016). Hope, optimism and survival in a randomised trial of chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer. Supportive Care in Cancer, 24(1), 401-408.

Seligman, M. E. (2002). Positive psychology, positive prevention, and positive therapy. Handbook of positive psychology, 2(2002), 3-12.

Seligman, M. E. (2011). Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life. Vintage.

Seligman, M. E., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Positive psychology: An introduction. In Flow and the foundations of positive psychology (pp. 279-298). Springer, Dordrecht.

Snyder, C. R. (2000). The past and possible futures of hope. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19(1), 11-28.

Spielberger, C. D. (2010). State‐Trait anxiety inventory. The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology, 1-1.

Wang, X., Liu, L., Zou, F., Hao, J., & Wu, H. (2017). Associations of occupational stressors, perceived organizational support, and psychological capital with work engagement among chinese female nurses. BioMed research international, 2017.

Whitehead, J. M., Raffan, J., & Deaney, R. (2006). University choice: What influences the decisions of academically successful post‐16 students?. Higher Education Quarterly, 60(1), 4-26.

Youssef, C. M., & Luthans, F. (2007). Positive organizational behavior in the workplace: The impact of hope, optimism, and resilience. Journal of management, 33(5), 774-800.