Background: Perceived poverty is a common psychological feeling among college students with impoverished backgrounds. Perceived poverty can harm impoverished college students’ interpersonal interactions, psychological health and life satisfaction. This study explored the effect of perceived poverty on the life satisfaction of impoverished college students and the mediating role of self-esteem.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1044 impoverished college students from 22 universities completed an online questionnaire that included a measure of perceived poverty, self-esteem scale (SES) and satisfaction with life scale (SWLS). Mplus statistical software was used to test whether self-esteem mediates the relationship between perceived poverty and life satisfaction.
Results: Perceived poverty and life satisfaction were significantly negatively correlated, self-esteem was significantly positively correlated with life satisfaction, and perceived poverty was significantly negatively correlated with self-esteem. The structural equation model revealed that self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between perceived poverty and life satisfaction.
Conclusion: Financial aid programmes should safeguard and strengthen impoverished students’ self-esteem while also taking steps to lessen their perceived poverty.
Keywords: college financial aid system, relative poverty, low-income families, mental health