Family Socioeconomic Status, Student Activity Participation, and Socio-Emotional Skills: Evidence from Final-Year Undergraduates in Shandong, China
Abstract
This study examines the associations among family socioeconomic status (SES), student activity participation (SAP), and selected socio-emotional skill domains among final-year undergraduates, with SAP tested as a statistical mediator. Guided by Astin's I-E-O model and Bourdieu's capital theory, SAP is framed as an educational experience through which family background may be associated with differences in student development. Survey responses from 571 undergraduates at public universities in Shandong Province, China, were analyzed using SPSS 26 and AMOS 24. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to estimate the structural associations, and bootstrapping was used to test the indirect association through SAP. SES was positively associated with both SAP and socio-emotional skills, and SAP was positively associated with socio-emotional skills. The bootstrap analysis indicated a significant partial statistical mediation pattern. These findings suggest that family background remains associated with students' socio-emotional development in higher education and with access to student activity experiences. SAP may therefore represent one pathway through which SES-related differences are statistically linked to selected interpersonal and intrapersonal skill domains. Because the study is cross-sectional, the mediation results should be interpreted as associations rather than evidence of temporal or causal transmission.