Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse the mediating effect of friends and family as sources of perceived social support in the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms. Design/methodology/approach: Survey data sample consisted of 733 university students from January to May 2023. Participants completed the UCLA loneliness…

Introduction/background: This study aims to determine the impact of a person with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities on peer relationships of their siblings. Methods: Information obtained from typically developing siblings of individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities served as research material for this study.…

Youth with disabilities may experience unequal patterns of social contact, compared to youth without disabilities. This study uses a nationally representative sample of youth (ages 15-19; N = 6,803) from the American Time Use Survey (2008-2019) to evaluate if and how social contact--defined as time spent with relatives and nonrelatives--differs by…

Background/purpose: This study investigates the relationship between digital literacy, metacognitive skills, social support, and students' self-efficacy to better understand the factors that influence academic confidence and performance. Materials/methods: A survey was conducted with 116 participants, and data were analyzed using partial least…

Purpose: The first objective is to investigate and determine the social capital development of students in online education. The second objective is to analyze the influence of social capital on students' academic success and educational satisfaction. The third objective is to generate recommendations to foster social capital development.…

This study innovatively contributes to the extensive research on student well-being by investigating how social-contextual factors influence students' day-to-day experiences at both the inter- and intra-individual level. Over 10 days, 324 school students aged 15-17 provided twice-daily data on positive affect (PA) and peer relationship quality…

Children exposed to family violence (i.e. child abuse and neglect and intimate partner violence) are often emotionally insecure in their relationship with their parents, and develop psychosocial problems. Emotional insecurity increases the likelihood of psychosocial problems, and may affect adjustment in other contexts (e.g., school). Among…

The complexities of individual (developmental changes) and contextual (change of school) factors interact during a school level transition period. The current study focuses on one aspect of possible difficulties, namely anxiety, and one potential support mechanism, specifically social support from family and peers, and their interplay during the…

Thousands of international students come to the US every year and must rely on computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools to stay in touch with their family and close friends back home. In this dissertation, I examined international students' use of CMC tools for communication with their left-behind family and close friends by conducting 38…

Introduction: Young people with chronic health conditions are among the most at risk of having poor social connections, however, little is known about their experiences of loneliness and social isolation. We aimed to describe the perspectives and experiences of loneliness and social isolation among young people with chronic physical conditions.…

The extant literature suggests the importance of belonging in preventing and reducing internalizing symptoms. However, it is not yet clear which sources of belonging are most distinctly and robustly linked to symptoms of depression and anxiety. Further, the associations between various sources of belonging when also considering forms of peer…

This study aims to assess the current physical health status and levels of body image satisfaction among Chinese secondary school students and identify the influencing factors of student body image perception. Guided by a mixed-methods research design, data was obtained through collecting 903 secondary student questionnaires and interviewing 15…

College students who experience dating violence (DV) often report detrimental impacts to their academic, social, and personal lives that influence their retention and persistence in higher education (e.g., Wood et al., 2020). To address the negative impacts of DV, higher education leaders and practitioners must focus on promoting healing among…

This article casts light on informal caregiving, an essential aspect of the international postgraduate researcher (PGR) experience, but which is often invisible in literature and discourses on international education. Drawing from qualitative semi-structured interviews with international PGRs in a British university, it highlights their dual role…

Purpose: In light of a largely negative discourse, this study aims to identify the various ways in which PhD mums have been supported in a range of contexts to develop a comprehensive typology of positive support, as well as to identify patterns that transcend institutional, national and disciplinary borders. Design/methodology/approach: The study…