The role of service-learning experiences in promoting flourishing among college-student youth mentors

The benefits of participating in a culturally translated youth mentoring program and service-learning experience for Aotearoa New Zealand mentors

The aim of this article is to demonstrate "mentoring through service-learning" models can be powerful avenues to support the development of emerging adult practitioners, and are scalable to new global contexts when careful attention is paid to the local culture and evidence-based principles for mentoring and service-learning. The study presents outcome findings for mentors who participated in Campus Connections Aotearoa, a culturally translated version of a US-based service-learning experience and therapeutic youth mentoring program implemented in New Zealand, based on a mixed-method, pre-post evaluation survey involving 62 ethnically diverse mentors (81% female). A large, significant increase in mentoring self-efficacy and small to moderate significant increases for attunement to others, sociability and leadership, and problem-solving and perspective-taking were found. Open-ended survey responses revealed self-reported changes in both personal and professional growth. The discussion highlights the importance of theory and evidence-driven design decisions and an intensive evidence-informed training curriculum for mentoring-based service-learning programs.

Exploring college students' flourishing: The interplay of demographic characteristics, time allocation in daily activities and responsibilities, and sense of belonging

The purpose of this study is to investigate how college students' flourishing relates to their demographic characteristics, students allocating time in daily activities and responsibilities, and sense of belonging to the university. The total sample for this study includes 553 undergraduate students, of which 69% identified as female, 24% as male, 7% as non-binary, 29% as underrepresented minority (URM) students, and 38% as first-generation students. Method. The study utilized the ACHA-NCHA III survey data from a large public 4-year university. The researchers conducted an exploratory factor analysis to identify prominent components, resulting in seven constructed variables to measure students' level of involvement in managing roles related to their academic, extracurricular, and personal life. The researchers then used multiple regression models to examine the relationship between student flourishing outcomes and students' time allocation in fixed roles (as a student, caretaker, and employee) and other activities, and their sense of belonging to the university. The results showed that college students who assume additional roles besides being a student, who spend more time engaging in prosocial activities while balancing socializing, and have a strong sense of belonging, also have a higher level of flourishing. Conversely, media consumption was negatively associated with students' flourishing.

Promotion of Meaning in Life and Wellbeing Among University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic via a Service-Learning Subject

Utilizing the principle of “learning by doing,” service-learning (SL) course provides a platform for university students to apply academic knowledge in serving the community, reflecting on the serving experiences, deepening their understanding of the knowledge, and further improving their competence, responsibility, wellbeing, and meaning in life (MIL). This study reported university students' changes in psychological wellbeing (positive youth development attributes), subjective wellbeing (life satisfaction), and MIL after taking a SL subject during the COVID-19 pandemic through a one-group pretest-posttest design. Based on the data collected from 229 students (mean age = 20.86 ± 1.56 years, 48.0% females), repeated-measures multivariate general linear model (GLM) analyses revealed that students showed significant positive changes in wellbeing and MIL. In addition, pretest MIL scores positively predicted posttest scores of the two wellbeing measures but not vice versa. As predicted, improvement in MIL among students was closely associated with the positive changes in both psychological and subjective wellbeing measures. These findings suggest that SL participation during the pandemic may promote students' life meaning and foster their wellbeing. Furthermore, MIL and wellbeing may improve simultaneously, and MIL enhancement may further contribute to improvement in psychological and subjective wellbeing. The findings further prove that SL is an effective pedagogy in higher education settings in promoting youth positive development.