Perceived social support and psychological wellbeing among vocational college students: the serial mediating roles of school belonging, academic self-efficacy, and psychological resilience

Abstract

Introduction Psychological wellbeing is an important concern for vocational college students, who face academic demands, skills training, practicum requirements, and school-to-work transition pressures. This study examined whether perceived social support is associated with psychological wellbeing through a serial mediation process involving school belonging, academic self-efficacy, and psychological resilience. Methods A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among vocational college students from Zhejiang, Chongqing, and Shanghai, China. A total of 500 questionnaires were collected, and 436 valid responses were retained for analysis. Participants completed self-report measures of perceived social support, school belonging, academic self-efficacy, psychological resilience, and psychological wellbeing. Data were analyzed using SPSS 27.0.1, AMOS 24, and supplementary Python scripts. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrap mediation analysis with 5,000 resamples were conducted. Results The five-factor measurement model showed good fit and outperformed alternative measurement models. The structural model also showed good fit to the data. Perceived social support was positively associated with school belonging, which was positively associated with academic self-efficacy, psychological resilience, and psychological wellbeing in sequence. Bootstrap results showed that the serial indirect effect through school belonging, academic self-efficacy, and psychological resilience was significant. The direct effect of perceived social support on psychological wellbeing also remained significant, indicating partial serial mediation. Discussion These findings suggest that perceived social support is associated with vocational college students' psychological wellbeing both directly and indirectly through a theoretically grounded resource-transformation chain, in which external relational support is linked to school-contextual belonging, academic motivational belief, and adaptive psychological resilience. The study highlights the importance of strengthening students' social support, school belonging, academic confidence, and resilience in vocational education contexts.