Depression is a prevalent psychological problem among higher vocational college students. This study aimed to explore the potential relationships among neurotic personality, maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in higher vocational college students.

Higher vocational college students in Jiangxi, China, were recruited for this survey study. The Chinese version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Self‐assessment Scale of Anxiety, and the Self‐depression Scale were administered to assess the mental condition of the students. We used serial mediation models to understand whether maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and anxiety mediate the effect of neurotic personality on depression.

Neurotic personality was significantly positively correlated with depression severity (r = 0.52, p < 0.001). Furthermore, catastrophizing (total mediating effect: 1.002) and blame‐other strategies (total mediating effect: 0.993), as maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, and anxiety exerted a chain mediating effect on the relationship between neurotic personality and depression.

This study revealed the significant effect of neurotic personality on depression in higher vocational college students and its underlying mechanism. Our results may be valuable for maintaining and improving the physical and mental health of higher vocational college students.