Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Psychological Reports, 2025 (SSCI, Scopus)
The phenomenon of school belongingness and the psychological constructs that predict this phenomenon have long attracted the attention of researchers. Although cross-sectional studies have investigated the links between these variables, their lack of simultaneous treatment in longitudinal studies has left a gap in the existing literature. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the longitudinal relationships between self-esteem, positive affect, perceived stress, and college belongingness. To achieve this, we conducted a two-wave cross-lagged panel study to examine whether positive affect and perceived stress act as mediators in the association between self-esteem and college belongingness. The study participants consisted of 255 college students (Mean age = 20.23, SD = 2.49). The findings of this study indicated that positive affect and perceived stress play significant mediating roles in the longitudinal association between self-esteem and college belongingness. To put it simply, self-esteem indirectly predicts college belongingness through the intermediary factors of positive affect and perceived stress. This longitudinal study highlights the potential impact of self-esteem on students’ levels of positive affect and perceived stress, underscoring the substantial mediator roles of positive affect and perceived stress as predictors of college belongingness.