Hung-Bin Sheu

Longitudinal Test of a Social Cognitive Model of Academic and Life Satisfaction

The authors tested a social cognitive model of academic and overall life satisfaction in a sample of 769 university students. The predictors, drawn from Lent’s unifying perspective on well-being and psychosocial adjustment, included social cognitive (academic self-efficacy, goal progress, social support) and personality (trait positive affect) variables that have previously been shown to relate to domain and life satisfaction. Participants completed all measures twice, 8 weeks apart, during an academic semester, to examine the hypothesized relations among the variables longitudinally. Structural equation modeling results supported the overall model, including the posited bidirectional paths between self-efficacy and goal progress. Contrary to expectations, however, academic domain and global life satisfaction did not yield significant bidirectional paths to one another. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Well-being of Taiwanese and Singaporean college students: cross-cultural validity of a modified social cognitive model.

This study tested the cross-cultural validity of a modified version of Lents (2004) normative well-being model. Data of 317 Taiwanese and 259 Singaporean college students were collected using the Mandarin and English versions of the survey and were analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques. Satisfactory fit showed that the modified model offered a reasonable representation of the relations among the constructs and accounted for substantial amounts of the variances in academic well-being and life satisfaction for both samples. Results of the bootstrapping procedure revealed that indirect effects of personality traits and self-construal variables on well-being outcomes were mediated mostly by pathways that involved academic self-efficacy, academic goal progress, and/or academic supports. Academic well-being also filtered the effects of other predictors on life satisfaction. Multigroup structural equation modeling analyses indicated the presence of measurement equivalence across these 2 groups. However, several structural paths differed significantly between the Taiwanese and the Singaporean samples. Overall, this study provides evidence for the applicability of the modified well-being model to college students in Taiwan and Singapore and suggests that students in these 2 Asian countries might pursue and maintain their well-being through different psychological mechanisms. Practical implications for interventions and outreach programs as well as directions for future research are discussed.

SCCT Research in the International Context Empirical Evidence, Future Directions, and Practical Implications

Since its introduction in 1994, social cognitive career theory (SCCT) has attracted attention from researchers and practitioners in the United States and other countries. This article provides a review of selected research performed outside the United States regarding SCCT’s interest, choice, performance, and satisfaction models. Results of a database search identified 37 studies, which contained 41 independent samples from 21 countries and were published in the English language. The majority of these studies were conducted in Asian (e.g., China and Taiwan) and European (e.g., Portugal, Germany, and Italy) countries and tested the interest/choice and satisfaction models in adolescent and college student samples who were enrolled in courses or majors related to the field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM; or Holland’s Investigative and Realistic themes). Existing international SCCT research offers robust evidence for the mediating role of self-efficacy, but less consistent support for that of outcome expectations, in the relations of proximal contextual factors to outcomes of interest, choice goals or goal progress, and academic or job satisfaction. Additionally, this review provides preliminary evidence for mastery experience and physiological state as two key sources of efficacy beliefs and for the effects of personality traits (e.g., positive affect and emotional stability) on academic or job satisfaction. Results of a recent meta-analysis are also summarized to offer an empirical synthesis of international SCCT research testing the choice model. Based on this review, directions for future international SCCT research are highlighted, and suggestions for career counseling are discussed.

Well-Being of College Students in China Testing a Modified Social Cognitive Model

In this study, we tested a modified academic satisfaction model based on social cognitive career theory in a sample of 757 college students in China. The hypothesized model included personality traits (extraversion and emotional stability), self-construals (independence and interdependence), environmental and person-cognitive variables (supports, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and perceived goal progress) in the academic domain, and academic and global well-being outcomes. Pathways that consisted of academic supports, self-efficacy, and goal progress partially mediated the effects of personality traits and self-construals on academic satisfaction and/or stress, which were, in turn, predictive of life satisfaction. Although Chinese students perceived outcomes of completing a college degree as favorable, such outcome expectations did not predict progress made in the academic domain. Multigroup analyses showed that the modified academic satisfaction model was applicable to both male and female college students in two major metropolitan areas—Chongqing in Southwest China and Shanghai in East China. With evidence for measurement equivalence, full structural equivalence was present by gender, whereas two of the hypothesized paths differed by location. Results of the study suggest that outreach or intervention programs, which involve gathering supports, boosting self-efficacy, and facilitating goal progress in the academic domain, are particularly beneficial for promoting the well-being of Chinese college students.

Social cognitive predictors of academic and life satisfaction: Measurement and structural equivalence across three racial/ethnic groups.

Data of 306 Caucasian American, 284 Asian American, and 259 Latino/a American college students were analyzed in this study to test a modified version of Lent and Browns (2006, 2008) satisfaction model in the academic context. In addition to the full set of variables hypothesized in the original model, the modified academic satisfaction model also included independent and interdependent self-construals to represent ones cultural orientations. Comparisons between the hypothesized model and 2 alternative models showed that direct paths from extraversion and emotional stability added significantly to the predictions of academic satisfaction and life satisfaction for all 3 racial/ethnic groups while those from independent and interdependent self-construals also had the same effects for Latino/a American students. The hypothesized model offered excellent fit to the data of all 3 racial/ethnic groups. Consistent with theoretical prediction, academic supports, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, or goal progress formed pathways that mediated the relations of personality traits and self-construals to academic satisfaction or life satisfaction across 3 groups. Although full measurement equivalence (configural invariance and metric invariance) was observed, 4 structural paths and 16 indirect effects differed significantly by race/ethnicity. Most of these differences in structural paths and indirect effects occurred between Caucasian Americans and Asian Americans. On balance, findings of the study provided evidence for the cross-racial/ethnic validity of the modified academic satisfaction model while identifying racial/ethnic differences that might have useful clinical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record

Affective Well-Being Viewed Through a Lens of Race and Ethnicity

This chapter focuses on racial and ethnic differences in the affective component of well-being, such as subjective happiness and positive/negative emotions. How culture influences the definition and experience of affective well-being is briefly discussed. Race and ethnicity have been tested as a predictor and a moderator in the relations between affective well-being and other variables, and empirical findings from these studies are critiqued. This chapter also highlights methodological issues relevant to studying well-being of individuals with different racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as directions for future research. Finally, an exemplar is included to demonstrate how some of the methodological issues could be addressed to obtain reliable and valid findings.

Predictors of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics choice options: A meta-analytic path analysis of the social–cognitive choice model by gender and race/ethnicity.

We tested the interest and choice portion of social–cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) in the context of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains. Data from 143 studies (including 196 independent samples) conducted over a 30-year period (1983 through 2013) were subjected to meta-analytic path analyses. The interest/choice model was found to fit the data well over all samples as well as within samples composed primarily of women and men and racial/ethnic minority and majority persons. The model also accounted for large portions of the variance in interests and choice goals within each path analysis. Despite the general predictive utility of SCCT across gender and racial/ethnic groups, we did find that several parameter estimates differed by group. We present both the group similarities and differences and consider their implications for future research, intervention, and theory refinement.