Today’s flow, tomorrow’s subjective well-being: temporal dynamics in the Chinese educational context
5 affiliations
- 1Institute of Applied Psychology, Psychological Research and Counseling Center, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
- 2Department of Psychology of Developmental and Socialization Processes, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- 3Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
- 4Center for Behavioral Research Across Cultures in the School of Psychology, Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou, China
- 5The International Frontier Interdisciplinary Research Institute, Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou, China
Abstract
Background: Optimal experience (flow) in academic study has been positively associated with student well-being; however, the precise day-to-day temporal ordering of this relationship remains to be empirically clarified. To advance this understanding, the present study examined within-person reciprocal associations between academic flow and subjective well-being among university students.
Methods: A 21-day daily diary design was employed with 51 university students, yielding 1,006 valid daily observations and a compliance rate of 93.9%. Subjective well-being was assessed across three dimensions: positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. Three Bayesian dynamic structural equation models were estimated to capture within-person dynamics, with daily sleep duration incorporated as a control variable.
Results: Significant within-person autoregressive effects were identified for all study variables. Daily academic flow prospectively predicted positive affect and life satisfaction on the following day, whereas neither well-being component predicted subsequent flow, indicating a unidirectional rather than reciprocal association. No longitudinal association was observed between flow and negative affect.
Conclusions: These findings support the temporal precedence of academic flow in predicting daily subjective well-being, consistent with a eudaimonic perspective on student development. In practice, these results encourage educators and institutional practitioners to prioritize cultivating optimal learning experiences as a meaningful strategy to sustain student well-being in higher education.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05203-z.
Related
- Data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) in Germany: Starting Cohort 8 – Education for the World of Tomorrow in Grade 5 and Higher
- Spiral brain dynamics track the temporal unfolding of subjective intensity during the N,N-dimethyltryptamine experience
- Social Media Fatigue and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese University Students: Artificial Intelligence Anxiety as a Statistical Mediator and Subjective Socioeconomic Status as a Moderator
- Relationship between subjective socioeconomic status and depression in Chinese rural adolescents: positive youth development as a moderator
- Sex differences in subjective cognitive impairment among Chinese patients with depression: A large‐scale cross‐sectional study
BibTeX
@article{li2026todays,
title = {{Today’s flow, tomorrow’s subjective well-being: temporal dynamics in the Chinese educational context}},
author = {Yiyan Li and Zhuofan Yang and Mei Xie and Jiaxi Lu and Alexander Scott English and Yanhui Mao},
journal = {BMC Psychology},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s40359-026-05203-z},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05203-z},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Today’s flow, tomorrow’s subjective well-being: temporal dynamics in the Chinese educational context
AU - Yiyan Li
AU - Zhuofan Yang
AU - Mei Xie
AU - Jiaxi Lu
AU - Alexander Scott English
AU - Yanhui Mao
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/22
JO - BMC Psychology
DO - 10.1186/s40359-026-05203-z
UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05203-z
AB - Background: Optimal experience (flow) in academic study has been positively associated with student well-being; however, the precise day-to-day temporal ordering of this relationship remains to be empirically clarified. To advance this understanding, the present study examined within-person reciprocal associations between academic flow and subjective well-being among university students. Methods: A 21-day daily diary design was employed with 51 university students, yielding 1,006 valid daily observations and a compliance rate of 93.9%. Subjective well-being was assessed across three dimensions: positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. Three Bayesian dynamic structural equation models were estimated to capture within-person dynamics, with daily sleep duration incorporated as a control variable. Results: Significant within-person autoregressive effects were identified for all study variables. Daily academic flow prospectively predicted positive affect and life satisfaction on the following day, whereas neither well-being component predicted subsequent flow, indicating a unidirectional rather than reciprocal association. No longitudinal association was observed between flow and negative affect. Conclusions: These findings support the temporal precedence of academic flow in predicting daily subjective well-being, consistent with a eudaimonic perspective on student development. In practice, these results encourage educators and institutional practitioners to prioritize cultivating optimal learning experiences as a meaningful strategy to sustain student well-being in higher education. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05203-z.
SN - 2050-7283
ER -