Student subjective wellbeing, school functioning, and psychological adjustment in high school adolescents: A latent variable analysis

Abstract

Well-being is a multi-faceted construct that encompasses all aspects of healthy and successful human functioning across multiple domains. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the predictive power of student subjective wellbeing on several specific adolescent school and psychological adjustment indicators: school achievement, academic satisfaction, prosocial behavior, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Participants included 223 adolescents, comprising of 54.9% girls, ranging in age from 13 to 18 years (M= 15.67, SD= 1.21). Findings from the LVPA indicated that student subjective wellbeing was significantly associated with youth school functioning and adjustment outcomes, ranging from small-to-large effect size (R2 range = .05 to .42). Student subjective wellbeing had the strongest predictive effect on prosocial behavior, followed by academic satisfaction, psychological health problems, and school achievement. With regard to the first-order models, school connectedness and joy of learning significantly predicted student academic satisfaction, prosocial behavior, and psychological adjustment problems. However, the predictive effect of these variables on student school achievement was non–significant. Educational purpose and academic efficacy were significant predictors of all adolescent outcomes. Taken together, these results suggest that student subjective wellbeing is an essential resource for improving youth academic functioning and psychological health.

Psychological Maltreatment and Spiritual Wellbeing in Turkish College Young Adults: Exploring the Mediating Effect of College Belonging and Social Support

“…People’s social support assets, therefore, improve their ability to cope with adversities (Arslan 2018b ; Cohen 2004 ; Tanhan 2019 ) by fostering resilience (Yıldırım and Çelik-Tanrıverdi 2020 ), and these assets also help them to receive support from others and to exhibit help-seeking behaviors in dealing with these experiences (Barker et al 2005 ; Schwarzer and Knoll 2007 ). Consistent with the findings of this study, studies reported that having social support was associated with better mental health and wellbeing (Arslan 2017c ; Arslan 2018b ; Arslan and Coşkun 2020 ; Bloom et al 2001 ; Cohen 2004 ; Cohen and Wills 1985 ; Kansky and Diener 2017 ; Tanhan 2020 ; Ye et al 2020 ), including college students’ spiritual wellbeing (Alorani and Alradaydeh 2018 ; Tanhan and Strack 2020 ; Weber and Cummings 2003 ). Theoretically, social support is an essential resource to foster both people’s wellbeing and resilience against stressors (Cohen et al 1986 ; Cohen and Wills 1985 ; Tanhan 2019 ; Yıldırım and Çelik-Tanrıverdi 2020 ).…”

Coronavirus Anxiety and Psychological Adjustment in College Students: Exploring the Role of College Belongingness and Social Media Addiction

“…In a study conducted with college students, higher perceived stress was associated with lower satisfaction with life under the condition of low college belongingness (Çivitci 2015 ). Sense of belongingness was also associated with depression, interpersonal conflicts, and loneliness (Hagerty and Williams 1999 ) and social and academic adjustment (Arslan and Coşkun 2020 ; Ostrove and Long 2007 ) among college students. Previous studies also indicated elevated levels of mental health problems during the COVID-19 outbreak.…”

Social Exclusion, Self-Forgiveness, Mindfulness, and Internet Addiction in College Students: a Moderated Mediation Approach

“…First, mental health workers in the field are suggested to design prevention and intervention programs to deal with the problems brought by social exclusion like social anxiety, loneliness, social isolation, and impaired self-regulation (Baumeister and Leary 1995 ; Baumeister et al 2005 ; Boardman 2011 ). These programs will overall contribute to psychological need satisfaction of belongingness for mental health and well-being with flourishing outcomes (Yıldırım and Çelik-Tanrıverdi 2020 ; Arslan 2018a ; Arslan and Coşkun 2020 ; Duru and Arslan 2014 ). Negative outcomes caused by social exclusion (e.g., social anxiety and loneliness) are also some main determinants of Internet addiction as discussed throughout the current paper.…”