A Structural Model of the Relationship between Internal and External Developmental Assets and Academic WellBeing: The Mediating Role of the Sense of Coherence

The purpose of this study was to develop a causal model of academic wellbeing among Farhangian University students based on its relationship with internal and external developmental assets and the mediating role of the sense of coherence. This research adopted a correlational design to investigate the relationship between the variables. The statistical population of the study included all students studying at Farhangian University of Kurdistan, Kurdistan Province, Iran, in the academic year 2020-2021. In total, 300 students were selected as participants using stratified random sampling. Academic well-being scale, Developmental assets questionnaire, and the sense of coherence scale were used to collect data. Structural equation modeling was performed using SPSS and AMOS (version 21) to analyze the data. Based on the results, the causal model confirmed the relationship between internal developmental assets, external developmental assets, the sense of coherence, and students’ academic well-being. Furthermore, both the sense of coherence and internal and external developmental assets were found to have a direct, positive, and significant effect on academic well-being. Internal and external developmental assets also had a direct, positive, and significant effect on the sense of coherence and an indirect positive effect on academic wellbeing through the mediating role of the sense of coherence. Therefore, it can be concluded that improving Farhangian University students’ internal and external developmental assets and sense of coherence can significantly enhance their academic well-being .