Longitudinal Test of a Social Cognitive Model of Academic and Life Satisfaction

The authors tested a social cognitive model of academic and overall life satisfaction in a sample of 769 university students. The predictors, drawn from Lent's unifying perspective on well-being and psychosocial adjustment, included social cognitive (academic self-efficacy, goal progress, social support) and personality (trait positive affect) variables that have previously been shown to relate to domain and life satisfaction. Participants completed all measures twice, 8 weeks apart, during an academic semester, to examine the hypothesized relations among the variables longitudinally. Structural equation modeling results supported the overall model, including the posited bidirectional paths between self-efficacy and goal progress. Contrary to expectations, however, academic domain and global life satisfaction did not yield significant bidirectional paths to one another. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.