Backgroud <p>This study aims to explore the relationships between self-esteem, resilience, social distress, and social avoidance among college students. It also examines the mediating roles of resilience and social distress in the relationship between self-esteem and social avoidance.</p> Methods <p>A convenience cluster sampling method was used to select all first-year students from a university in Yinchuan, Ningxia. Data were collected through an online survey administered via the WENJUANXING platform, which included a general information questionnaire, the Self-Esteem Scale, the Psychological Resilience Scale, and the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale. A total of 2513 first-year students completed the survey. SPSS 26.0 software was used to analyze the correlation between self-esteem, resilience, social distress and social avoidance, and the mediation model was tested by Mplus8.</p> Results <p>Self-esteem, resilience were negatively correlated with social distress scores (<i>r</i> = -0.411, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01; <i>r</i> =-0.387, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01, respectively). Self-esteem and resilience were negatively correlated with social avoidance scores (<i>r</i> = -0.437, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01; <i>r</i> = -0.379, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01, respectively). Social distress and social avoidance scores were positively correlated (<i>r</i> = 0.778, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01). Resilience partially mediated the association between self-esteem and social avoidance(β = -0.02, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01), with a mediation rate of 5.01%. Social distress partially mediated the associations between self-esteem and social avoidance(β = -0.203, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01) with a mediation rate of 50.87%. Resilience and social distress together (β = -0.06, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01) formed a mediating chain between self-esteem and social avoidance, with a mediation rate of 15.03%.</p> Conclusions <p>Self-esteem was negatively associated with social avoidance. Resilience and social distress were found to mediate the association partially.</p>