Subjective Emptiness as a Link Between Sense of Self and Psychological Distress in Emerging Adults
Author(s): Kaiwei Bai
Abstract: A coherent sense of self is central to psychological functioning, yet the experiential mechanisms linking self-structure to psychological distress are not well understood. This study examined subjective emptiness as a mediator of the association between sense of self and psychological distress in 82 young adults. Participants completed self-report measures of sense of self, subjective emptiness, and psychological distress. Mediation analyses with bootstrapped confidence intervals indicated that a weaker sense of self was associated with greater psychological distress and that this association was partially mediated by subjective emptiness. Symptom-specific analyses showed mediation for depressive and anxiety symptoms, but not somatic symptoms, suggesting affective specificity. Findings support subjective emptiness as a pathway linking self-structural vulnerability to psychological distress in emerging adults.
Keywords: Sense of self; Subjective emptiness; Psychological distress; Depression; Anxiety; Self-structure; Emerging adulthood
Published: January 14, 2026
Article: e24002
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