The Relationship Between Academic Delay of Gratification and Depressive Symptoms Among College Students: Exploring the Roles of Academic Involution and Academic Resilience

In an era of rapid social transformation and hyper-competition, students in higher education are confronted with tremendous academic pressure, which is exacerbating mental health challenges at an alarming rate. This study used 576 Chinese college students as samples to construct and verify a moderated mediation model. The purpose was to systematically explore the associations among academic delay of gratification, depressive symptoms, academic involution, and academic resilience. The results demonstrate that academic delay of gratification exhibits a significant positive correlation with academic involution. Academic delay of gratification is negatively directly correlated with depressive symptoms, although it also exhibits a significant positive indirect correlation with depressive symptoms through academic involution. The mediating role of academic involution manifests as a suppression effect. Academic resilience is an important moderating variable. Low academic resilience intensifies the association between academic delay of gratification and academic involution. High academic resilience weakens this association. These findings not only elucidate the specific mechanism underlying academic delay of gratification and depressive symptoms but also provide a practical foundation for educational practitioners to develop effective intervention strategies.