Abstract

This study is grounded in group socialization theory and investigates the impact of college students’ perceived teacher leadership on various dimensions of academic life, with a particular focus on the mediating role of self-esteem. To explore this relationship, a mediation model is proposed, positioning self-esteem as the intervening variable. The research targets undergraduate students from six universities in Guangdong, China, utilizing a questionnaire-based survey and employing convenience sampling for preliminary data collection. A total of 569 valid responses were obtained. The findings reveal that perceived teacher leadership exerts a significant positive influence on students’ academic life, and also positively affects their self-esteem. In addition, self-esteem is shown to significantly enhance academic life outcomes. Moreover, the results confirm that self-esteem mediates the relationship between perceived teacher leadership and academic life among college students in Guangdong, China.

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