How social skills relate to academic life integration: psychological well-being and loneliness

Background This study examined whether social skills relate to academic life integration directly and indirectly through psychological well-being and loneliness. Methods A cross-sectional survey of 251 Hangzhou Polytechnic students was analyzed using PLS-SEM. Results Social skills were positively associated with psychological well-being and ALAS and negatively associated with loneliness. The indirect association through psychological well-being was significant ( β = 0.176, 95% CI 0.099−0.271); the indirect association through loneliness was not ( β = 0.028, 95% CI −0.006−0.060; p = 0.090). The primary model explained 43.0% of ALAS variance. Conclusion The psychological well-being pathway remained significant across examined specifications; support for the loneliness pathway was sensitive to specification. Weak convergent validity, limited model fit, and sampling limitations warrant cautious interpretation.