The influence of social support and student's self efficacy on academic engagement of undergraduate students mediated by sense of belonging and psychological distress

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship of social support and self-efficacy on the academic engagement of Thai undergraduate students in Chiang Mai, Thailand, mediated by sense of belonging and psychological distress. A total of 267 students (aged between 17 and 24) from three universities in Chiang Mai participated in this study by completing a self-administered questionnaire designed to measure the study’s primary variables (social support, self-efficacy, sense of belonging, psychological distress, and academic engagement). The results of the study indicate that the undergraduate students’ social support and self-efficacy, directly or indirectly mediated by sense of belonging and psychological distress, have no significant relationship to their academic engagement. Therefore, social support, self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and psychological distress present no predictive value to undergraduate students’ academic engagement. However, the results reveal that students’ social support and self-efficacy is directly and significantly related to their psychological distress in the opposite direction. This finding indicates that the more social support and self-efficacy undergraduate students have, the less psychological distress they have. The implication of this finding may help undergraduate students ease their psychological distress by promoting their social support and self-efficacy.