The relationship between negative life events and resilience among Chinese service employees: Nonlinearly moderated by lifestyle habits

The high level of resilience is a valuable trait that can assist service employees to manage diverse pressures, and contribute to maintaining a high quality of service while promoting mental health. This study examined work and life factors that impacted the resilience levels of Chinese service employees. The survey data were collected from a total of 753 employees from various service sectors in China. A multi-level regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses. The confirmatory factor analysis verified the reliability and validity of each measurement, indicating its suitability and implications in the Chinese context. Our findings revealed a negative relationship between negative life events and the resilience levels of Chinese service employees, and an inverted U-shaped relationship was observed between negative life events and resilience when employees reported that they adopted more positive lifestyle habits. The implications and limitations of this study are also discussed.