the optimism effect: how core self-evaluation shapes well-being in punjab's nursing students

Background: the current study investigates the intricate relationship between dispositional optimism, core self-evaluation, and mental well-being among nursing students. the present research aims to understand the mediating role of core self-evaluation on nursing students' well-being and dispositional optimism. methods: the present study was cross-sectional in nature and included a purposively selected sample of 286 (112 females, 172 males) nursing students from punjab (india). students completed a measure of a short version of the warwick–edinburgh mental well-being scale, the revised life orientation test (lot-r), and the core self-evaluations scale. the collected data was analyzed using correlational and multiple regression analysis. moreover, the mediational analysis was analyzed using the hayes process macro.results: the results indicated that core self-evaluation (β=0.606, p<0.01) and dispositional optimism (β=0.394, p<0.01) are significant predictors of nursing students' mental well-being. mediation analysis showed that core self-evaluation completely mediated the relationship between dispositional optimism and mental well-being. furthermore, it was found that the measures of t-value of dispositional optimism (t=-1.536), and mental well-being (t=-1.594) were non-significant at the 0.05 level, while significant differences were found in core self-evaluation (t=-2.223).conclusion: the results of the present study demonstrated the predictive role of dispositional optimism and core self-evaluation in the mental well-being of nursing students. moreover, the current study highlighted the underlying mechanism through which dispositional optimism influences nursing students' mental well-being.