Beyond Direct Effects: How Self-regulated Learning Connects Educational Management with Adaptive Outcomes among Chinese University Students

Abstract

This study examines how Educational Management is associated with adaptive outcomes among Chinese university students, with self-regulated learning proposed as an explanatory mechanism. Drawing on self-determination and self-regulated learning perspectives, a conditional process model was specified and evaluated using a synthetic dataset of 578 cases. The simulated measurement model demonstrated acceptable reliability (composite reliability = 0.88) and fit (CFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.049, SRMR = 0.044). Structural estimates suggested that Educational Management was positively associated with self-regulated learning (β = 0.41, p .002) and with adaptive outcomes (β = 0.31, p .002). The standardized indirect effect through self-regulated learning was 0.18, with a synthetic 95% bootstrap interval excluding zero. Together, the modeled predictors explained 48% of the variance in adaptive outcomes. The paper contributes a concise mechanism-based account of adaptive learning and demonstrates an empirical structure aligned with the Journal of Adaptive Learning and Psychological Growth. Because all results are simulated, the findings are illustrative and require validation with ethically collected data