Perceived teacher–student power distance in relation to campus connectedness profiles among Chinese college students: profile differences in difficulties in emotion regulation

Vollständiger Abstract

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Introduction As a core expression of social belonging within the campus community, campus connectedness can be regarded as a relational foundation of student flourishing, but has typically been examined as a continuous construct using variable-centered approaches, leaving its person-level patterning less well understood. Adopting a person-centered perspective, this study identified latent profiles of campus connectedness. Given the cultural and institutional salience of teacher–student power distance in Chinese higher education, the association between students' perceived teacher–student power distance and profile membership was further examined. Difficulties in emotion regulation were also compared across profiles to assess the external validity and psychological relevance of the profile solution. Methods A sample of 3,885 Chinese college students completed measures of campus connectedness, perceived teacher–student power distance, and difficulties in emotion regulation. Latent profile analysis was conducted using the Campus Connectedness Scale items. R3STEP examined associations between perceived power distance and profile membership, and BCH compared difficulties in emotion regulation across profiles. Results Three ordered, level-based profiles were retained, comprising low (9.1%), moderate (53.6%), and high (37.3%) campus connectedness. Higher perceived teacher-student power distance was associated with greater odds of low- versus high-connectedness membership (OR = 1.347, p < .001) and moderate- versus high-connectedness membership (OR = 1.449, p < .001), whereas the low-moderate contrast was weaker and model-dependent. Difficulties in emotion regulation decreased monotonically across the low-, moderate-, and high-connectedness profiles (M = 3.706, 3.374, and 2.522, respectively), with all pairwise differences significant at p < .001. Discussion The association between perceived power distance and profile membership exhibited an asymmetric rather than a uniformly graded pattern, which may be consistent with the cultural and institutional normalization of teacher-student hierarchy in Chinese higher education. Furthermore, the monotonic decrease in difficulties in emotion regulation not only supported the external validity of the profile solution but also indicated that differences in students' campus-specific social belonging co-occurred with meaningful differences in emotional adjustment relevant to resilient functioning.