Associations between achievement motivation and subjective well-being among medical students: the chain mediating roles of general self-efficacy and psychological resilience

Abstract

Medical students face prolonged training, rigorous assessment, and professional demands that may affect their subjective well-being. This study aimed to examine the associations between the two dimensions of achievement motivation and subjective well-being among medical students and to investigate the mediating roles of general self-efficacy and psychological resilience. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 2,422 medical students in Jining, Shandong Province, China. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate direct and specific indirect associations. Success motivation had a weak positive direct association with subjective well-being (β = 0.060), whereas failure-avoidance motivation had a weak negative direct association (β = −0.063). Three specific indirect pathways were supported: through self-efficacy alone, resilience alone, and self-efficacy followed by resilience. The total indirect associations were 0.293 and -0.056, accounting for 83.08% and 47.25% of the respective model-based total associations. Among the variables included in the model, resilience had the largest direct association with subjective well-being (β = 0.494). Achievement motivation was associated with medical students’ subjective well-being through efficacy beliefs and psychological resilience. These findings highlight the importance of fostering success-oriented motivation, strengthening general self-efficacy, and cultivating psychological resilience in medical education.