College Students’ Dormitory Exclusion and Learning Adaptation: The Mediating Roles of Loneliness and Psychological Distress and Gender Differences

The role of environmental factors in college students' learning adaptation has been widely examined. However, few studies have adopted a more micro-level perspective by focusing on the dormitory context to investigate the relationship between dormitory exclusion and learning adaptation, and its underlying mechanisms. This study investigates the chain mediating roles of loneliness and psychological distress in the relationship between dormitory exclusion and college students' learning adaptation, as well as the gender differences in these mediating pathways based on the Temporal Need-threat Model of Social Exclusion, Social Support Theory and Gender Role Theory. Using a convenience sampling method, 940 college students were surveyed using the dormitory exclusion scale, the loneliness scale, the depression-anxiety-stress scale, and the learning adaptation scale. The results showed that: (1) Dormitory exclusion significantly negatively predicted learning adaptation; (2) Dormitory exclusion predicted college students' learning adaptation through the single and chain mediation of loneliness and psychological distress; and (3) The chain mediation model exhibits gender differences. Specifically, for males, loneliness mediated the relationship between dormitory exclusion and learning adaptation; for females, loneliness and psychological distress serve as both independent mediators and sequential mediators in the relationship between dormitory exclusion and learning adaptation. The findings revealed the underlying mechanism of college students' dormitory exclusion and learning adaptation, providing valuable insights for interventions.