Social-Emotional Ability of Chinese College Students: “Fragile, Lying Flat” or “Rising Wave, Positive”?

Purpose Social-emotional ability is an important human basis for the sustainable development of society. At present, researchers are focusing on the improvement of primary and secondary school students’ social-emotional ability. This study explores the current situation of college students’ social-emotional ability. Design/Approach/Methods Based on the existing questionnaires on social-emotional ability in primary and secondary schools, we examined the universality of social-emotional ability along with the unique development of college students and developed a questionnaire on social-emotional ability for college students. Research was conducted on students in 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions (excluding Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Chinese Taiwan) in China, and 4,720 valid questionnaires were obtained. Findings It was found that the college students’ social emotions are at the upper-middle level, showing a “rising wave, positive” state, but their tenacity needs to be further improved. Education level, gender, type of university, origin, family affiliation, and teacher–student relationships significantly affect college students’ social-emotional ability. Originality/Value This study contributed a social-emotional questionnaire designed for Chinese local discourse, and identified the current social-emotional ability of college students in China.