Endeavors supporting college students’ positive psychosocial development are gaining attention and investment in various countries and social contexts. Higher education experiences provide new academic, social, and vocational advancement opportunities at a critical developmental stage. However, higher education can also cause distress due to the challenges and stressors present during this new stage of increased independence. The Social Emotional Health Survey-Higher Education (SEHS-HE) assesses the core psychosocial strengths of individuals transitioning from secondary schools into institutions of higher education (IHE) to aid campus student support services. The present study sought to extend the SEHS-HE research by examining its application with college student samples from Mexico (n = 4,207), United States (n = 1,638), and Spain (n = 1,734). Confirmatory factor analyses investigated the hypothesized SEHS-HE higher-order factor model. The Mexico sample returned an acceptable model fit, but the USA and Spain samples had a suboptimal fit; hence, we explored alternative models. A two-level structure had full invariance for all three samples. This study extends the current scholarship on the conceptual model and psychometric properties of SEHS-HE. The discussion focuses on implications for future research to enhance SEHS-HE in national and cross-national research and practice.

At the beginning of primary school, young children need to adapt academically, socially, and emotionally to their new school environment. Enjoying going to school and becoming socially integrated are important preconditions for successful learning. However, children from disadvantaged families have fewer resources and receive less support, and such deficits can result in lower attainment, negative emotions, and lower well-being. In recent years, interest in emotions and well-being in school has grown in educational research. However, studies analyzing the affective characteristics of disadvantaged students, especially in primary school, are still scarce. In this study, we analyzed reciprocal relationships between school enjoyment, social integration, and achievement using cross-lagged structural equation modeling (Grades 1 and 2), while controlling for family background and sex. We used data from the National Educational Panel Study in Germany (NEPS; N = 4,986). Results showed positive effects of school enjoyment on achievement and social integration on school enjoyment. Additionally, a better home learning environment had positive effects on school enjoyment and social integration in Grade 1. Effects of socioeconomic and migration background on school enjoyment and social integration were not significant. Our results show no evidence that educationally disadvantaged students are additionally disadvantaged in their school enjoyment or social integration at the beginning of primary school.  

The aim of the present study is to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES) as part of the study of affective variables using a sample of English as a foreign language (EFL) university students in Morocco. Two hundred and six (N = 206) participants of undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels completed the self-esteem (SE) questionnaire. Using classical methods of factor extraction before employing more robust techniques comprising minimum average partial (MAP) and parallel analysis (PA) to perform preliminary factor analysis (FA) using principal axis factoring (PAF), results conclusively and parsimoniously yielded a one-factor solution with acceptable construct reliability (Composite Reliability). CFA results, including goodness-of-fit indexes, confirmed that the one-factor model was better fitting compared to its competing independent two-factor counterpart, but marginally less so compared to the correlated version of the latter. Two out of the three constructed models showed good fit indexes, thus demonstrating the conformity of two measurement models with their respective hypothesized structural models. Furthermore, using the heterotrait-monotrait (HTMT) ratio, both two-factor models showed acceptable discriminant validity. The obtained results further corroborate both the one-factor and two-factor solutions reported in previous works for which we present new evidence from a Moroccan EFL context.

The responsibilities of emerging adulthood and academic pressure are some stressful situations encountered among graduating students. Those graduating students used different coping that deals with stressful situations that may affect their quality of life. This study, a predictive correlational design, was conducted on 202 Filipino graduating university/college students to determine if stress and avoidant coping can predict their quality of life. Results showed a significant relationship existed between stress, avoidant coping, and quality of life. Stepwise forward regression analysis tested two regression models, where model 1 revealed that stress negatively predicted the quality of life. Whereas model 2 suggested that stress and avoidant coping (i.e., behavioral disengagement) was significantly higher in predicting the quality of life among graduating students.

Previous research focused on individuals’ background, contexts and cognitive performance in education, work, and life. Given the increasing number of people living alone temporarily, the question arises whether the frequent use of skills, including social skills, relates to individuals’ later positively self-evaluated skills and social lives. Based on an integrated framework, the current analysis aimed to disentangle these relationships with longitudinal data from Germany over three years. The target sample consisted of n = 3263 working adults. A Bayesian structural equation model included adults’ frequent use of skills, self-evaluated skills, household size, close friends, and seven covariates (e.g., numeracy and literacy test scores, weekly working hours. The results suggested positive relationships between adults’ frequent use of numeracy, literacy, and social skills and later self-evaluations (except literacy used on self-evaluated numeracy). Those who less frequently used social skills three years earlier were also less likely to have a larger household size than those who reporting frequently using their social skills. Adults who frequently used literacy skills three years earlier reported higher numbers of close friends than those who less frequently used literacy. The findings highlight the importance of adults’ social skills and frequently used skills for self-evaluated numeracy and literacy.