An examination of the social cognitive model of well-being in Turkish college students

With the purpose of contributing to the growing international research on social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this study examined Lent's (2004) social cognitive model of well-being in a sample of Turkish college students. Three hundred and three students completed a battery of questionnaires assessing trait positive affect, overall life satisfaction and domain-specific support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, goal progress, and satisfaction. The results of a structural equation model revealed that the well-being model fit the data well and accounted for 66%, 61%, and 45% of the variance in academic goal progress, academic satisfaction, and overall life satisfaction, respectively. Furthermore, all hypothesized relationships were supported except for two paths (i.e., outcome expectations → goal progress, and positive affectivity → academic satisfaction). These findings extend previous research on the international applicability of social cognitive model of well-being and highlight the potential use of environmental support, self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations in the development of goal progress, academic and life satisfaction in a cultural context which is a blend of Eastern and Western cultural perspectives.