AUTHOR=Wang Gongjing , Wang Huadi , Gu Xueying , Zheng Feifei 

TITLE=Impact of college counselors’ spiritual guidance behaviors on Chinese college students’ employment anxiety: the chain-mediated roles of resilience and career calling

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1586101

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1586101

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=ObjectivesEmployment anxiety is a prevalent psychological issue among Chinese college students with far-reaching implications for both individual and societal well-being. College counselors play a vital role in students’ development by offering spiritual guidance through humanistic care, values shaping, and psychological support interventions. This study aims to investigate the multidimensional impact of college counselors’ spiritual guidance behaviors on Chinese college students’ employment anxiety, focusing on the mediating roles of resilience and career calling.MethodsDrawing on spiritual leadership theory, this study examined resilience and career calling as mediating factors. A cross-sectional survey involving 719 Chinese college students utilized the Spiritual Leadership Scale, Career Calling Scale, Resilience Scale, and Employment Anxiety Scale. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to develop a structural equation model elucidating how college counselors’ spiritual guidance behaviors influence students’ employment anxiety.Results(i) Significant correlations were found among spiritual guidance behaviors, resilience, career calling, and employment anxiety. (ii) Path analysis demonstrated that resilience and career calling indirectly impacted employment anxiety through three pathways: namely, the independent intermediary role of resilience (indirect effect = -0.195), the independent intermediary role of career calling (indirect effect = -0.149), and the chain intermediary role of the two (indirect effect = -0.070).ConclusionsStudies show that college counselors play a crucial role in bolstering students’ resilience by offering spiritual guidance. This, in turn, nurtures a sense of career calling among students, leading to a systematic reduction in employment-related anxiety. These results support the implementation of a dual-path employment counseling model that integrates psychological and existential aspects.