Adaptability, Personality, and Social Support: Examining Links with Psychological Wellbeing Among Chinese High School Students

The first year of boarding senior high school marks a period of great change for students. The extent to which students are able to adjust to successfully navigate this change (adaptability) likely has an impact on their psychological wellbeing. It has also been theorized that students’ personality traits and perceived social support may impact upon their adaptability and, directly and/or indirectly through adaptability, influence their psychological wellbeing. However, the literature examining independent and mediating effects of adaptability on psychological wellbeing is sparse particularly among students from non-Western cultures. In the present study, 102 grade-one high school students in China, were surveyed for their personality, perceived social support, adaptability, and psychological wellbeing (life satisfaction, mental well-being, and psychological distress). Findings showed that adaptability (along with neuroticism, extraversion, and social support) made a significant independent contribution to students’ psychological wellbeing. Further, adaptability was found to fully mediate the relationships between personality (conscientiousness and neuroticism) and psychological wellbeing, and to partially mediate the relationships between extraversion and psychological wellbeing, and social support and psychological wellbeing. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for researchers and educators who are seeking to support students’ adjustment to boarding senior high school.