Learning performance of university students from the perspective of positive psychology

Abstract

We used a positive psychology perspective to explore the relationships among university students’ social support, belonging, self-esteem, hope, and learning outcomes. Participants, comprising 739 students enrolled at a science and technology university in Taiwan, completed written questionnaires assessing the focal variables. The results showed that students’ perception of social support influenced learning outcomes through self-esteem and belonging, which then influenced their hope. In addition, social support given by teachers versus that given by peers had different influences on students’ hope. Teacher support effectively predicted the goal orientation, pathways thinking, and agency thinking dimensions of students’ hope, whereas peer support effectively predicted students’ pathways thinking and agency thinking but not goal orientation. Practical implications and recommendations for future research are presented.