How social desirability impacts life satisfaction among Chinese youth: mediators of mental toughness and emotional intelligence

Fangyan Lv; Zhanhang Ye; Zicheng Liu; Jing Gan; Jingbin Tan; Run Feng; Burebiya Abudurexiti; Meng Yu; Dingguo Gao

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1467804

How social desirability impacts life satisfaction among Chinese youth: mediators of mental toughness and emotional intelligence

Front Psychiatry. 2024 Oct 17:15:1467804. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1467804. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Fangyan Lv^#^{1

2}, Zhanhang Ye^#^{2

3}, Zicheng Liu^#⁴, Jing Gan², Jingbin Tan², Run Feng², Burebiya Abudurexiti², Meng Yu⁵, Dingguo Gao²

Affiliations

¹ School of Marxism, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Psychology and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
³ Faculty Development Center, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Medical Psychology, Guangdong Province Hospital of Chinese People's Armed Police Forces, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Psychology, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Social desirability has been recognized as a predictor of life satisfaction but it has yet to know the mechanism of this effect. This research aimed to explore the relationship between social desirability and life satisfaction, as well as the mediation effects of mental toughness and emotional intelligence. In Sample 1, we asked 1200 youths (12-24 years old) to complete an online questionnaire measuring social desirability, life satisfaction, mental toughness, and emotional intelligence. Results indicated that social desirability had a direct positive effect on youth's life satisfaction. In addition, mental toughness and emotional intelligence mediated the relationship between social desirability and life satisfaction, showing a chain role of mental toughness and emotional intelligence. A second sample (n = 750) was then used to verify the above findings, and similar results were found. These findings are consistent with our hypotheses, revealing the mechanisms of social desirability in relation to life satisfaction and the important role of mental toughness and emotional intelligence.

Keywords: emotional intelligence; life satisfaction; mental toughness; trait social desirability; young adults.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32171073), and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. 2024A151010826).