ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicProtective vs Risk Factors for Stress and Psychological Well-being in Academic University ContextsView all 23 articles
The Influence of Social Capital on College Students' Academic Adaptation: The Mediating Role of Positive Emotional Experience
Provisionally accepted
- 1Changzhou University Huaide College, Jingjiang, China
- 2Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, China
- 3Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
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Introduction: This study aims to examine the impact of social capital on college students'academic adaptation and to explore the underlying mechanism — specifically, the mediating role of positive emotional experience. By integrating perspectives from social capital theory and positive psychology, it seeks to enrich theoretical understandings of higher‑ education adaptation. Methods: A total of 428 undergraduates from a comprehensive university participated in this study. Data were gathered using a self‑ developed Social Capital Scale, an Academic Adaptation Scale, and a Positive Emotional Experience Scale. Descriptive statistics and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted in SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0, respectively. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized paths, and the mediating effect of positive emotional experience was assessed via Hayes's (2013) PROCESS macro (Model 4) with 5,000 bootstrap samples. Results: Social capital had a significant direct predictive effect on academic adaptation (β = 0.251, p < 0.001). The path from social capital to positive emotional experience was also significant ( β = 0.679, p < 0.001), as was the path from positive emotional experience to academic adaptation (β = 0.583, p < 0.001). Bootstrap analysis indicated an indirect effect of 0.396 (95% CI [0.283, 0.523]), excluding zero, demonstrating that positive emotional experience partially mediates the relationship between social capital and academic adaptation. Discussion: These findings support Coleman's (1988) social capital theory and Fredrickson's (2001, 2004) broaden‑ and‑ build theory, revealing a synergistic mechanism whereby external social support resources enhance students' positive emotional experiences, which in turn promote academic adaptation. Practically, universities should foster strong teacher – student and peer support networks while implementing interventions to cultivate positive emotions, thereby
Keywords: social capital, Positive emotional experience, academic adaptation, Mediation, collegestudents
Received: 21 Jul 2025; Accepted: 21 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tong, Cheng and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jianshan Cheng, 06090902@wit.edu.cn
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