RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING OF THAI COLLEGE STUDENTS, GOAL ORIENTATIONS, AND GENDER

Abstract

This paper examined the direct and interaction effects of students' learning and performance-avoidance goal orientations on their psychological wellbeing and a moderating role of students' gender in these relationships. Using 564 self-reports of freshman college students in a Thai university, we found students' psychological wellbeing to be positively related to their learning goal orientation and negatively related to their performance-avoidance goal orientation. Additionally, the negative relationship between students' performance-avoidance goal orientation and psychological wellbeing was stronger for men than women. Lastly, differences in students' psychological wellbeing between men and women became more pronounced with increases in learning goal orientation for students with low levels of performance-avoidance goal orientation, but not for students with high levels of performance-avoidance goal orientation. These findings were obtained after controlling for students' grade point average and academic program.