In the context of rapid higher-education expansion and growing academic competition in China, learning quality and equity in educational opportunities have become key concerns. Many studies emphasize external resources, but fewer examine how students’ psychological resources relate to learning outcomes under unequal structures. This study uses cross-sectional data from 303 university students to explore how psychological resilience is associated with learning quality and equitable access to educational opportunities. A chained mediation model and binary logistic regression models were applied. The main findings reveal that: (1) Psychological resilience is significantly related to learning quality. (2) General self-efficacy and learning engagement mediate the relationship between psychological resilience and learning quality. (3) Psychological resilience is also positively associated with both the quantity and quality of access to educational opportunities. This suggests that psychological resources may help students manage structural constraints in competitive environments. Learning engagement shows a negative association with quantity of access, indicating that increased effort does not necessarily translate into higher educational attainment. Overall, the findings show the connection between internal psychological resources and external structural conditions. This study offers a new perspective for understanding learning quality and opportunity equity in the mass-higher-education era and provides policy implications for promoting equitable and quality education. • Psychological resilience is positively associated with learning quality among university students. • General self-efficacy and learning engagement play a chained mediating role in the association between psychological resilience and learning quality. • Psychological resilience correlates with access to both the quantity and quality of educational opportunities. • Learning engagement presents a negative correlation with access to the quantity of educational opportunities.
Ma et al. (Mon,) studied this question.