# From uniform to belonging: how fashion imagery of school uniforms shapes students’ psychological capital via social identification

## TL;DR

This study shows how school uniform designs can influence students' mental health and sense of belonging through their aesthetic features and group identification.

## Contribution

The study introduces a psychological framework linking uniform aesthetics to students' psychological capital via social identification.

## Key findings

- Function-oriented aesthetics directly enhance psychological capital.
- Responsibility-oriented aesthetics boost psychological capital through group identification.
- Individuality-oriented aesthetics do not significantly relate to group identification.

## Abstract

School uniforms play a crucial role in students’ psychological development; however, existing designs often neglect students’ individualized aesthetic needs, potentially hindering their mental health and emotional growth. This study explores whether students’ perceptions of the fashion imagery of school uniforms can act as an educational contextual cue that enhances their psychological capital through group identification.

Expert-reviewed and standardized uniform images were used as visual stimuli, with 210 Chinese participants completing a structured questionnaire. Principal component analysis (PCA) identified three aesthetic orientations—individuality-oriented, responsibility-oriented, and function-oriented aesthetics—while partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLSSEM) was employed to test both direct and indirect pathways among variables.

The results indicate that function-oriented aesthetics show a clear positive association with psychological capital, whereas responsibility-oriented aesthetics are positively related to psychological capital primarily through group identification, despite their direct effect being marginally significant. In contrast, the association between individuality-oriented aesthetics and group identification was not significant, suggesting a distinct, self-focused psychological pathway. The model explained R2 = 0.260 for social identification and R2 = 0.415 for psychological capital.

This study provides empirical evidence for the pivotal role of visual cues in school uniform design—such as inclusivity, sustainability, comfort, and safety—in fostering students’ sense of belonging and the development of positive psychological resources, offering both theoretical and practical insights for school uniform design and campus culture development from a psychological perspective.