PLACE ATTACHMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULATION AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING RELATED TO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ LEARNING CONTEXT

The main purpose of the present study was to analyze the relationship between the university students’ place attachment, perception of environmental stimulation and the psychosocial well-being, a relation that was less studied, although it is very important for the quality of the students’ life in the academic environment. The key research question was “Is the students’ psychosocial well-being related to the attachment of their place of study and to their perception of the environmental stimulation?” The main presumption of this research was that the student’s place attachment and the perception of the environmental stimulation are positively associated with the psychosocial well-being. Participants in this study were 450 students, 150 from a French university, 150 from a Romanian private university, and 150 from a Romanian public university (first and second year of studies). The measured variables were: the learning context (French/Romanian University, Romanian public/private University), attachment to the university’s space/place and perception of the environmental stimulation, the subjective, psychological and social well being (as dimensions of the integrative construct of psychosocial well being) In order to collect the data 2 self rating questionnaires covering the above mentioned variables were used. The results of the study confirm the hypothesis regarding the relationship between the university students’ place attachment, their perception of the environmental stimulation and their psychosocial well-being. We appreciate that the results of the study may lead to a university student well-being profile that could highlight the areas in which we can make improvements in order to promote the well-being in academic environment and they can represent an empirical foundation for the consolidation of good formative-informative practices in the academic environment both within and across cultures.