Academic Involution and Emotional Distress in Vocational College Students: A Moderated Mediation via Perceived Stress and Psychological Resilience

Objective : This study tested a moderated-mediation model in which perceived stress (PSS) mediates the association between academic involution (INV) and emotional distress (PHQ-4), with psychological resilience (BRS) buffering all three paths. Methods : A cross-sectional online survey of Chinese vocational students (N=663; forced-response, no item-level missing) used an 18-item INV scale, PSS-4, PHQ-4 and BRS-6. Analyses included group tests, correlations and PROCESS Model 59 with 5,000 bias-corrected bootstraps; sex, grade and place of origin were covariates; Harman’s single factor=10.6%. Results : INV correlated positively with PSS and distress; resilience correlated negatively with both. In PROCESS, INV predicted higher distress and higher PSS, and PSS predicted higher distress (all ps<.001). Resilience attenuated INV→PSS, PSS→distress and the direct INV→distress link; the INV→distress slope declined from low to high resilience and became nonsignificant around +1 SD (Johnson–Neyman). Conclusion : Involution relates to distress partly via stress, while resilience systematically buffers these effects in vocational colleges.