Faculty Rank and Undergraduate Subjective Well-being: Examining the Moderating Effects of Student Year Level and Academic Major Stress in Harbin Universities
Universiti pendidikan sultan Idris.
Research Article
International Journal of Life Science Research Archive, 2026, 10(01), 011-026.
Article DOI: 10.53771/ijlsra.2026.10.1.0016
Publication history:
Received on 11 December 2025; revised on 18 January 2026; accepted on 20 January 2026
Abstract:
This study investigates the relationship between perceived faculty rank (lecturer, associate professor, professor) and undergraduate subjective well-being (SWB) among students in Harbin, China, while examining the moderating roles of student year level and academic major stress. Data from 457 valid questionnaires collected from Harbin Normal University, Heilongjiang University, and Harbin Financial College were analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis. Results indicate that higher perceived faculty rank is significantly associated with greater student SWB (β = 0.28, p < .001). However, this relationship is significantly moderated by both year level (β = -0.15, p < .01) and academic major stress (β = -0.19, p < .001). Specifically, the positive effect of perceived high-ranking faculty diminishes for senior students and those experiencing high academic major stress. These findings highlight the contextual nature of faculty influence on student well-being within the unique environment of Northeast Chinese higher education, suggesting targeted interventions are needed for vulnerable student groups (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Li et al., 2021).
Keywords:
Faculty Rank; Subjective Well-being; Academic Major Stress; Student Year Level; Undergraduate Students; Chinese Higher Education; Harbin; Moderating Effects
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Copyright © 2026 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0