Author(s)

Liu Yang

Affiliation(s)

Organization and Publicity Department, Guangdong Agriculture Industry Business Polytechnic, Guangzhou 510507, Guangdong, China.

Corresponding Author

Liu Yang

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Amid the massification of higher education and rapid social transformation in China, university students face intensified academic competition, uncertain mobility prospects, and heightened psychosocial stress. These conditions make “attitudes toward life” a consequential construct for understanding how students evaluate life circumstances and translate such evaluations into coping and action tendencies. However, existing studies often examine positive functioning and distress-related outcomes separately, with limited integration of co-existing orientations such as engagement, withdrawal, and goal attenuation. Objectives: This study aims to develop a context-sensitive Life Attitude Scale (LAS) and to map the overall pattern and subgroup differences of college students’ life attitudes across four co-existing orientations: positive mindset, lying-flat mindset, Buddha-like mindset, and negative mindset. Methods: A cross-sectional, on-site paper-and-pencil survey was administered to students from nine colleges at a university in Guangzhou, yielding 287 valid responses (effective rate 89.69%). The LAS comprised 19 items across four subscales (5, 5, 5, and 4 items, respectively) rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale; survey data were analyzed in SPSS 27.0 with psychometric screening and nonparametric group comparisons, supplemented by interview materials for contextual interpretation. Results: Descriptive results showed that the positive mindset was highest (M = 4.093), while the lying-flat mindset (M = 2.419) and the negative mindset (M = 2.190) remained comparatively low; the Buddha-like mindset was near the midpoint (M = 2.987). Kruskal-Wallis tests indicated statistically significant differences across selected background variables, including discipline-related variation in positive mindset, as well as gender- and family-background-related variation in low-desire orientations and negative mindset. Discussion: The findings depict an overall positive life orientation among contemporary Chinese university students, alongside meaningful heterogeneity in withdrawal-style and low-desire coping patterns. The four-dimensional LAS provides a measurement basis for differentiated educational guidance and mental health promotion. Future research should extend validation to multi-site samples and longitudinal designs, and further test mechanism pathways linking structural stressors, relative deprivation, and life-attitude configurations.

KEYWORDS

University students; Life attitudes; Current situation analysis; Cognitive differences

CITE THIS PAPER

Liu Yang. Life attitude profiles among Chinese university students: a survey study of positive, lying-flat, Buddha-like, and negative mindsets. Eurasia Journal of Science and Technology. 2025, 7(6): 57-65. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61784/ejst3126.

REFERENCES

[1] LIN Z Z, CAI H W, HUANG Y F, et al. Prevalence of depression among university students in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Psychology, 2025, 13, 373. DOI: 10.1186/s40359-025-02688-y.

[2] SUN C, ZHU Z, ZHANG P, et al. Exploring the interconnections of anxiety, depression, sleep problems and health-promoting lifestyles among Chinese university students: a comprehensive network approach. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2024, 15. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1402680.

[3] KWOK S Y C L, FANG S, HUANG B M, et al. Stability and changes in meaning in life profiles and their impact on mental health among chinese university students: a latent transition analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 2025, 16. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1529851.

[4] ZHENG X, JING C, LIU Y, et al. Why are people “Lying Flat”? Personal relative deprivation suppresses self-improvement motivation. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 2023, 62(2): 932-948. DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12611.

[5] QI Z, HAN F. Research on the impact of college students’ “Buddha-like” characteristics on social responsibility and the mediating role of social support. Frontiers in Psychology, 2025, 16. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1691896.

[6] ZHANG L, HUI B P H, KONG F, et al. Why People “Lie Flat”? An Integrative Framework of Social-Psychological Pathways in China. Personality and Social Psychology Review: An Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc, 2025, 29(4): 371-382. DOI: 10.1177/10888683251358516.

[7] ZHANG S sen, ZHANG W hua, YONG S hong, et al. Network analysis of meaning in life, perceived social support, and depressive symptoms among vocational undergraduate students. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2025, 16. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1510255.

[8] ZHU S, WANG L, GAN Y. Lying flat to play on smartphone excessively: the role of self-esteem. Frontiers in Psychology, 2025, 16: 1516869. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1516869.

[9] HE X X, WANG X qiang, STEGER M F, et al. Meaning in life and psychological distress: A meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 2023, 104: 104381. DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2023.104381.

[10] SU H, YE T, WU X. Revealing the heterogeneity of meaning in life and its relationship with creativity among university students: A latent profile analysis study. Acta Psychologica, 2025, 254: 104852. DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104852.

[11] NING X, LUO X, GUO S. Researching into Chinese university students’ mental health in the post-pandemic era–problems and causes. Frontiers in psychology, 2024, 15: 1393603. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1393603.

[12] LIU A, SHI Y, ZHAO Y, et al. Influence of academic involution atmosphere on college students’ stress response: the chain mediating effect of relative deprivation and academic involution. BMC Public Health, 2024, 24(1): 870. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-18347-7.

[13] NI J, LIU A, SHI Y, et al. Impact of academic involution atmosphere on college students’ mental exhaustion: A chain mediation model. International Journal of Educational Research, 2024, 128: 102475. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijer.2024.102475.

[14] HE Y, LIU X. Development and validation of academic involution scale for college students. Scientific Reports, 2025, 15(1): 20876. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-04850-3.

[15] LU H, HOU J, HUANG A, et al. Development and Validation of the “Lying Flat” Tendency Scale for the Youth. Behavioral Sciences, 2023, 13(11). DOI: 10.3390/bs13110915.

[16] MADRID‐CAGIGAL A, KEALY C, POTTS C, et al. Digital Mental Health Interventions for University Students With Mental Health Difficulties: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 2025, 19(3): e70017. DOI: 10.1111/eip.70017.

[17] LU Q, CHEN Q, ZHANG Y, et al. How Does Meaning-Centered Coping Influence College Students’ Mental Health? The Mediating Roles of Interdependent Self-Construal and School Connectedness. Behavioral Sciences, 2025, 15(7). DOI: 10.3390/bs15070955.

[18] BOATENG G O, NEILANDS T B, FRONGILLO E A, et al. Best practices for developing and validating scales for health, social, and behavioral research: a primer. Frontiers in public health, 2018, 6: 149. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00149.

[19] SULLIVAN G M, ARTINO A R. Analyzing and Interpreting Data From Likert-Type Scales. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 2013, 5(4): 541-542. DOI: 10.4300/JGME-5-4-18.

[20] ALMANASREH E, MOLES R, CHEN T F. Evaluation of methods used for estimating content validity. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 2019, 15(2): 214-221. DOI:10.1016/j.sapharm.2018.03.066.

[21] TERWEE C B, PRINSEN C A C, CHIAROTTO A, et al. COSMIN methodology for evaluating the content validity of patient-reported outcome measures: a Delphi study. Quality of Life Research, 2018, 27(5): 1159-1170. DOI: 10.1007/s11136-018-1829-0.

[22] POLIT D F, BECK C T, OWEN S V. Is the CVI an acceptable indicator of content validity? Appraisal and recommendations. Research in Nursing & Health, 2007, 30(4): 459-467. DOI: 10.1002/nur.20199.

[23] BALZA J S, CUSATIS R, MCDONNELL S M, et al. Effective questionnaire design: How to use cognitive interviews to refine questionnaire items. Journal of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, 2022, 15(2): 345-349. DOI: 10.3233/NPM-210848.

[24] CRONBACH L J. Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 1951, 16(3): 297-334. DOI: 10.1007/BF02310555.

[25] PODSAKOFF P M, ORGAN D W. Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of management, 1986, 12(4): 531-544. DOI: 10.1177/014920638601200408.