Citizenship Behaviors and Their Associations With Depression and Perceived Stress Among University Students in Taiwan

Background: Citizenship behaviors are crucial in fostering social progress. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Citizenship Behavior Questionnaire-30-General Version (CBQ-30-GV) among Taiwanese university students. It also examined the association of citizenship behaviors with depression and perceived stress. Methods: A total of 1000 university students participated in an online survey. To evaluate the factor structure of the CBQ-30-GV, five competing models were examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Furthermore, internal consistency was assessed, and concurrent validity was examined by analyzing the correlations between CBQ-30-GV scores and subjective well-being, as measured using the Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment Well-being (PERMA)-Profiler. Moreover, the correlations of citizenship behaviors with depression (measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) and perceived stress (measured using the Perceived Stress Scale) were investigated using Pearson correlations. Results: The findings supported a bifactor structure for the CBQ-30-GV, comprising seven specific factors and a general factor, with satisfactory model fit. The CBQ-30-GV demonstrated adequate internal consistency, and all seven specific and general factor scores were significantly and positively correlated with PERMA-Profiler scores (r = 0.080 to 0.490; p < 0.001). The general factor and the majority of specific factor scores of the CBQ-30-GV were significantly and negatively associated with depression (r = –0.426 to –0.135; p < 0.001) and perceived stress (r = –0.346 to –0.165; p < 0.001), whereas the factor scores for political activity and activity for change exhibited either positive or nonsignificant associations with depression and perceived stress. Conclusions: These findings confirm the bifactor structure of the CBQ-30-GV and its acceptable internal reliability and concurrent validity. They indicate that most of the CBQ-30-GV specific factor scores negatively correlated with depression and perceived stress.