Özet:

Abstract University students are susceptible to psychological issues due to various academic and social stressors in their lives. Decreased life satisfaction among these students can result in a wide variety of adverse outcomes, which can negatively impact their overall well-being and academic performance. The current study aims at examining the mediating role of psychological distress in the association between social support and life satisfaction. This cross-sectional study included 368 university students (F= 243, 66%; M= 125, 34%) from two public universities in Turkey. The research data were obtained utilizing the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. The findings demonstrated that social support had a positive predictive effect on life satisfaction and a negative predictive effect on psychological distress. In addition, psychological distress negatively predicted life satisfaction. Moreover, the SEM analysis indicated that psychological distress played a partial mediating role in the association between social support and life satisfaction. These results highlight the importance of addressing social support and psychological distress in interventions aimed at increasing life satisfaction among university students.

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