Investigating the impacts of parental visits on the socio-psychological well-being of students in higher education

Abstract

The well-being of adults, including students, is crucial; therefore, any factor that may negatively impacts it should be prevented. Recognizing the importance of well-being, the United Nations has dedicated one of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3) to ensuring good health and well-being. This paper investigates the association between parental visits and socio-psychological well-being of students in higher education. This study adopts a cross-sectional survey design, which is quantitative in nature, for the analysis, with a sample size of 613 respondents. All analyses were performed using Stata version 14 and the ordinary least squares estimation technique is employed for the analysis. The results show a significant positive association between parental visit and socio-psychological well-being. This means that parental visits have the potential to enhance socio-psychological well-being of students. In addition, this study reveals that parental encouragement in both academic pursuits and general life issues is associated with higher socio-psychological well-being. Time management is also revealed to have an association with students’ socio-psychological well-being. The findings imply that parents should take visits to their children on university campuses seriously, as doing so is likely to result in better socio-psychological well-being, which will, in turn, have a beneficial influence on their lives. Furthermore, parents are encouraged to provide regular support and motivation, as such encouragement is linked to better socio-psychological well-being.