Postgraduates’ time management disposition and mental health: mediating role of life satisfaction and moderating role of core self-evaluations

BACKGROUND: The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between postgraduates’ time management disposition and mental health. As such, it constructed a moderated mediation model to examine the mediating role of life satisfaction on the relationship between graduate students’ time management disposition and mental health and examine whether this role was moderated by core self-evaluations. METHODS: 455 postgraduates were surveyed by the Adolescence Time Management Disposition Inventory, the Adolescent Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, the revised version of the Chinese Core Self-Evaluation Scale, and the revised version of the Chinese General Health Questionnaire. RESULTS: Time management disposition, life satisfaction, core self-evaluation, and mental health were significantly correlated. Time management disposition indirectly affected mental health through the mediating effect of life satisfaction. Core self-evaluation moderated the second half of the mediating effect of time management disposition on mental health via life satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The findings reveal the mechanism between time management disposition and mental health, which will help school educators to guide postgraduates in developing good time management disposition and improving life satisfaction and core self-evaluation, and thus improve their mental health.