Improving Well-being, Academic Achievement, and Social Emotional Skills in Chinese Adolescents: from Latent Profile Analysis and Intervention Evaluation

Young people are prone to mental health issues, social, emotional, and behavioural challenges, and academic burdens during adolescence. These issues are particularly prevalent in the school environment. However, research in China lacks both theoretical understanding and effective interventions to address these situations. Thus, the thesis first investigates which types of social behaviour and social status patterns are associated with optimal well-being and academic achievement outcomes (Study 1). Furthermore, it incorporates Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) approaches to explore whether these Western- developed interventions can improve Chinese adolescents' social emotional skills, academic achievement, and well-being (Study 2), as well as further unpack their experience and beliefs about what and how this adapted Mindfulness-based Intervention (MBI) helps them in terms of behavioural change (Study 3). Study 1 recruited 818 Chinese adolescents (aged 12-15 years, 46 percent female) and employed latent profile analysis to discover naturally occurring social status- behaviour patterns. Four distinct social status profiles were identified: high aggressive- low likeability, low social status, average, and high prosocial-high social status groups. This study demonstrated that adolescents with the highest levels of prosocial behaviour, the lowest levels of aggressive behaviour, and the highest social standing had the best academic and well-being outcomes. In Studies 2 and 3, a mixed-method approach was used to study 552 teens (Mean age= 13.03, SD = 0.50, 47.5 percent females) from an urban Chinese private school, with 184 in each of the 3 conditions (taught, self-help, and active control groups). These studies indicated associations between the implementation of MBIs and improvements in the well-being and prosocial behaviours of Chinese students. In particular, the self-help method, which revealed fewer adverse outcomes, was supported by teachers. The qualitative data from students revealed four themes that all align with the theoretical foundations of MBCT, which were “behaviour change”, “state change”, “attitude change”, and “no changes”. Cognitive changes and handy techniques such as breathing were reported to be beneficial for pupils to regulate their negative responses. Taken together, this PhD thesis highlights the necessity of studying well-being, academic achievement, and social emotional skills within a single model and emphasizes the importance of enhancing them as a bound entity using theoretical modelling and intervention evaluation. Findings provide a better understanding of the relationships between these developmental tasks and suggest a possible intervention to be further considered in resource-scare places.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Zhou, Wanying

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• McLellan, Rosalind

• Academic achievement
• Adolescents
• Intervention
• Mental health
• Social emotional skills
• Wellbeing

Licence

• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

eng

Author Identifier

0000-0002-0973-5789

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/349153