Front Psychol. 2026 Jul 16;17:1901610. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1901610. eCollection 2026.
ABSTRACT
Teacher caring is a crucial relational resource for student development in higher education, yet the process by which it connects to students’ perceived course-related learning gains remains underexplored. Drawing on caring theory, social cognitive theory, learning engagement theory, and a supportive relationship perspective, this study tested a sequential mediation model. This model posits that teacher caring is associated with perceived course-related learning gains through academic self-efficacy and learning engagement. A cross-sectional, anonymous online questionnaire survey was administered to Chinese undergraduate students. Out of 632 returned questionnaires, 562 valid responses remained after data cleaning, resulting in a valid response rate of 88.9%. The results showed that teacher caring was positively associated with academic self-efficacy, learning engagement, and perceived course-related learning gains. The CFA measurement model demonstrated a good fit, and composite score path analyses using standardized scores supported the proposed model. Bootstrap mediation tests indicated that both academic self-efficacy and learning engagement partially mediated the association between teacher caring and perceived course-related learning gains, and they also formed a significant sequential indirect path. These results remained stable even after controlling for gender, year of study, major category, region, and university identifier. The findings suggest that teacher caring should be understood not merely as emotional warmth or general support, but as a relational resource linked to students’ confidence in learning and active engagement in coursework. Because the study relied on cross-sectional self-report data, the results should be interpreted as statistical associations consistent with the proposed relational-motivational pathway rather than as evidence of causal ordering.
PMID:42534778 | PMC:PMC13422389 | DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1901610
