Time Management Disposition and Mental Health Status of Vocational College Students and the Relation Between Them

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the time management disposition and mental health status of vocational college students and the relation between them.

Methods: Between May and June in 2014, we enrolled 307 vocational college students from three vocational colleges in Gansu Province. Using adolescent time management disposition scale (ATMD) and symptom checklist 90 (SCL-90), we conducted test on the time management disposition and mental health level of these students together based on classes. The correlation between the score of time management disposition and the score of mental health was analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis; the predictive effect of each dimension of time management disposition was analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis.

Results: The total score of ATMD was (144.65±21.39), and the scores of sense of time value, concept of time monitor and sense of time potency were (34.64±6.13), (76.77±11.90) and (33.23±5.93), and the total score of SCL-90 was (2.00±0.70). Male students and female students were significantly different in the score of sense of time value (P＜0.05), while they were significantly different in the scores of concept of time monitor and sense of time potency and the total score of time management (P＞0.05). Students of different majors were significanlty different in the scores of sense of time value, concept of time monitor and sense of time potency and the total score of time management (P＜0.05). No significant differences existed in the scores of sense of time value, concept of time monitor and sense of time potency and the total score of time management among students of different grades and between students who were from one-child family and students who were not (P＞0.05). No significant differences existed in the scores of sense of time value and sense of time potency and the total score of time management among students from different places and between students who were student cadres and students who were not (P＞0.05), while significant differences existed in the score of concept of time monitor (P＜0.05). No significant differences existed in the score of each SCL-90 factor and the total score of SCL-90 between male students and female students, among students of different majors and students from different places, and between students who were from one-child family and students who were not (P＞0.05). Significant differences existed in the scores of SCL-90 factors except somatization, anxiety and terror and the total score of SCL-90 among students of different grades (P＜0.05). Significant differences existed in the scores of obsessive-compulsive symptom, depression and terror between students who were student cadres and students who were not (P＜0.05), while no significant difference existed in the scores of other SCL-90 factors and the total score of SCL-90 (P＞0.05). The score of each SCL-90 factor of these vocational college students was higher than national norms (P＜0.05). Significant differences existed in the score of each SCL-90 factor and the total score of SCL-90 between students with high time management disposition score and low time management disposition score (P＜0.05). There was negative correlation between the score of sense of time value and the scores of somatization, terror and psychotism (P＜0.05), while there was no linear correlation between the score of sense of time value and the scores of other SCL-90 factors and the total score of SCL-90 (P＞0.05); the score of time monitor and the total score of time management had negative linear correlation with the score of each SCL-90 factor and the total score of SCL-90 (P＜0.05); the score of time potency had negative linear correlation with the scores of all SCL-90 factors except obsessive-compulsive symptom and sensitivity of interpersonal relationship and the total score of SCL-90 (P＜0.05). After the control of demographic variables, the concept of time monitor had negative predictive effect on mental health symptoms (P＜0.05).

Conclusion: Vocational college students have a passable level of time management ability and a lower level of mental health. The concept of time monitor in time management disposition has obvious predictive effect on mental health.