THE INFLUENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL ON ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT AND ENHANCING ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT THROUGH INTEGRATIVE GROUP COUNSELING AMONG CHINESE COLLEGE STUDENTS

Abstract

This study aimed to 1) explore the correlation between psychological capital and academic engagement among Chinese college students. 2) analyze the contributions of hope, resilience, optimism, and efficacy in psychological capital to identify the strongest predictor of academic engagement. 3) Develop an integrative counseling program to enhance academic engagement,with hope as the key predictor from Phase 1, and 4) evaluate the effectiveness of the integrative counseling program by comparing academic engagement scores pre- and post-intervention in the experimental and control groups. Phase 1 involved 270 students selected via proportional stratified sampling and random selection, with personal interviews conducted with 5 students. In Phase 2, 16 students were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, followed by interviews with 6 participants. Research instruments included the Positive Psychological Capital Questionnaire (α=0.928) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student version (IOC=0.974). Quantitative analysis utilized descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple regression, MANOVA, and repeated-measures ANOVA, while qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis. The techniques employed in integrative group counseling included CBT homework assignments, the crystal ball question and future letter writing from SFBT, and the ABCDE model from REBT. The result showed that 1) there were significant positive correlations between psychological capital components and academic engagement, 2) Hope was the strongest predictor of academic engagement (β=0.294, p < 0.001),3) The experimental group showed significant improvements at the 0.05 level across pre-, post-, and follow-up assessments, and 4) the experimental group demonstrated significantly higher academic engagement than the control group at the 0.05 level.

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