Conceptualization and empirical test of the self-improvement tendency theory

Sample one consists of 314 valid questionnaires from college students, including 38 males (12.10%) and 276 females (87.90%); 142 undergraduates (45.23%) and 172 graduate students (54.77%), with an average age of 21.98 (SD = 2.11), ranging from 19 to 37 years old; 31.85% are liberal arts students, 67.83% are science students, and 0.32% are engineering students.Sample two comprises 537 valid questionnaires from college students, including 100 males (18.62%) and 437 females (81.38%), mainly undergraduates (99.63%), with an average age of 20.14 years (SD = 1.16), ranging from 18 to 24 years old; 69.27% are from rural areas, 18.4% of the participants' fathers and 15.1% of the participants' mothers have received college education or above, and 15.08% of the participants have received or are currently receiving psychological counseling/treatment.Sample three consists of 311 valid questionnaires from adults (non-students), with ages ranging from 18 to 77 years (M = 32.91, SD = 9.47). There are 101 males (32.48%) and 210 females (67.52%); 5.46% have graduated from high school, 13.50% have associate degrees, 52.41% have bachelor's degrees, and 28.72% have graduate degrees; 47.27% are married, 3.22% are divorced, 12.54% are unmarried but have partners, and 36.98% are single; their professions include teachers, medical personnel, human resources managers, salespeople, models, freelancers, unemployed, among others.Sample four is a longitudinal mediation design with two measurements of paired valid questionnaires. Online surveys were distributed to college students from three universities, measuring their self-improvement tendencies and interpersonal skills in June 2022 and September 2022. A total of 240 paired valid questionnaires were obtained. The majors of the participants include chemistry, geography, English, Japanese, etc., with ages ranging from 18 to 26 years (M = 20.9, SD = 1.15). There are 47 males (19.6%) and 193 females (80.4%); 76 are first-year students (31.7%), 97 are second-year students (40.4%), 65 are third-year students (27.1%), and 2 are first-year graduate students (0.8%); 138 (59%) are from rural areas, and 96 (41%) are from urban areas.