Classroom engagement among undergraduate students at a private college in Qingdao, China: a multidimensional analysis

Introduction This study examined classroom engagement among undergraduate students at a private undergraduate college in Qingdao, China. Classroom engagement was conceptualized in terms of skills, emotional, interaction, and performance engagement. Methods A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed with 534 undergraduate students. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, confirmatory factor analysis, multigroup CFA, Welch’s independent-samples t -tests, and Welch’s ANOVA with Games–Howell post hoc comparisons were conducted using SPSS and AMOS. Results The findings indicated moderate levels of classroom engagement, with performance engagement recording the highest mean and emotional engagement the lowest. All four dimensions were significantly and positively correlated ( r = 0.410–0.517, p < 0.001). The second-order CFA demonstrated that all dimensions contributed substantially to the higher-order construct, with standardized loadings ranging from 0.63 to 0.74; interaction engagement had the highest loading. Scalar measurement invariance was supported across gender and year-of-study groups. Male students reported significantly higher scores than female students across all four dimensions, with small-to-moderate effect sizes. Significant year-of-study differences were also found, with first-year students generally reporting the highest engagement and fourth-year students the lowest. Discussion These findings support the multidimensional structure of classroom engagement, extend evidence from Chinese private higher education, and highlight the importance of strengthening emotional engagement and sustaining classroom engagement throughout undergraduate study.