Online Education and Subjective Well-Being in China: Multiple Mediating Roles of Social Class Mobility and Social Tolerance

ABSTRACT

(1) Background: Online education has developed into a new form of education. However, the relationship between online education and subjective well-being has seldom been extensively studied in the literature. Thus, this study provides quantitative evidence regarding the effect of online education on subjective well-being. (2) Objective: The objective of this study was to reveal the net effect of online education on subjective well-being and explore the mediating roles of social class mobility and social tolerance between online education and subjective well-being. (3) Methods: Based on the 2019 China Comprehensive Social Survey data, the "counterfactual framework” was constructed using the propensity score matching method, and 1029 matched samples were analyzed. (4) Results: Online education is significantly positively correlated with subjective well-being (average treatment effect on the treated, ATT = 0.189, p < 0.01). Social class mobility and social tolerance serially mediate the relationship of online education and subjective well-being (the intermediary role of social class mobility is 0.0163;the mediating role of social tolerance is 0.0064). (5) Conclusion: This study confirms the positive predictive effect of online education on subjective well-being and affirms the multiple mediating roles of social class mobility and social tolerance between online education and subjective well-being.