The Relationship between Social Support and Lying Flat among Chinese university Students: The Chain Mediation Effect of Meaning in Life and Psychological Resilience

Background “Lying flat” has emerged in recent years as a popular term in China, referring to a lifestyle characterized by passive indolence and muddling along, and has attracted widespread attention. Lying flat has become a representative psychological and behavioral phenomenon among Chinese university students, yet its underlying mechanisms remain insufficiently examined. Existing research suggests that social support, meaning in life, and psychological resilience may play key roles, but integrative models are still scarce. This study aims to test a chain mediation model examining associations among social support, meaning in life, psychological resilience, and lying flat. Methods The study targeted a university student population and adopted a cross-sectional online survey design, yielding 2,323 valid responses from 30 provinces across China. Data collection instruments included the Lying Flat Mentality Questionnaire, the Social Support Scale, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, and the Psychological Resilience Scale. Common method bias testing, correlation analysis, and multicollinearity diagnostics were conducted in SPSS 27.0, followed by chain mediation analysis using the PROCESS macro (Model 6). Results (1) Lying flat was significantly and negatively correlated with social support, meaning in life, and psychological resilience (r ranged from − 0.62 to − 0.43); (2) meaning in life mediated the association between social support and lying flat; (3) psychological resilience also mediated the association between social support and lying flat; and (4) meaning in life and psychological resilience jointly formed a chain-mediated effect between social support and lying flat. Discussion These findings underscore the roles of social support, meaning in life, and psychological resilience in understanding the lying flat phenomenon, highlighting the complex interplay among these factors. Informed by these observed relationships and existing theoretical perspectives, the Resource–Psychological Capital–Coping Model (RPCCM) is proposed as a conceptual framework that offers theoretical insights and may help inform future discussions on educational or intervention-relevant considerations among university students.