A study on the construction and validation of pathways to the sustainable well-being of Chinese vocational students in the post-epidemic era

The outbreak of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the mental health of students. While past research has indicated that leisure activities contribute to well-being, it is not known how leisure activities affect the pathway to sustainable well-being. Therefore, this study constructed a model of sustainable well-being based on emotion-action-experience-outcome with the PERMA model. Chinese vocational colleges and universities were invited using snowball sampling approach to complete the questionnaire. A total of 992 valid questionnaires were collected and validated with structural equation models. The results showed that: (i) Positive emotion had a positive effect on engagement and a positive effect on achievement; (ii) Engagement had a positive effect on interpersonal relationships and meaning; (iii) Achievement had a positive effect on interpersonal relationships and a positive effect on meaning; (iv) Interpersonal relationships had a positive effect on sustainable well-being; and (v) Meaning had a positive effect on sustainable well-being.