scholarly journals Predictors of University Student Satisfaction with Life, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Achievement in the First Year

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-124
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Wilcox ◽  
David Nordstokke

Understanding personal factors that contribute to university student satisfaction with life is important in order to determine how we can better prepare students for the transition to post-secondary education and support them during this transition. This study examined predictors of university student satisfaction with life, academic self-efficacy, and self-reported academic achievement in their first year of university. First-year students (n = 66) completed selfreport measures of academic achievement, university well-being, satisfaction with life, personality, and mental health. A linear regression analysis approach was applied to the data. Results indicated that academic satisfaction and school connectedness predicted satisfaction with life but that academic self-efficacy and college gratitude did not, conscientiousness predicted academic self-efficacy, college well-being predicted self-reported achievement, and anxiety predicted achievement but depression did not. This study highlights the importance of understanding the personal factors that influence well-being and achievement during the transition to university.

Author(s):  
Ina Reić Ercegovac ◽  
Toni Maglica ◽  
Maja Ljubetić

This study aimed to explore the relationship between self-esteem, self-efficacy, family and life satisfaction, loneliness and academic achievement during adolescence. A total of 180 male and 301 female adolescents aged 10 to 17 (M=12.45 years, SD=2.66), from two primary and two secondary schools from the city of Split, participated in the study. To achieve the research goal, we administered the general data questionnaire, Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (Vulić Prtorić Sorić, 2006), Family Satisfaction Scale (Vulić Prtorić, 2004), the short-form UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, 1996), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). The results indicated that female adolescents performed better in Croatian than male adolescents, who in turn assessed themselves as being more emotionally efficient than female adolescents. Regarding age, preadolescents were more satisfied, performed better academically, and exhibited higher levels of academic self-efficacy and self-esteem than older adolescents. The results of the regression analysis showed that higher academic self-efficacy and lower emotional self-efficacy were the strongest predictors of academic achievement. Research findings suggest that higher self-esteem and self-efficacy beliefs in all domains could have a protective role in well-being of adolescents and, finally, they point to the importance of developing high self-efficacy beliefs, especially academic ones, for academic achievement.Key words: academic achievement; adolescence; self-concept; satisfaction, loneliness---Ovim istraživanjem nastojalo se ispitati odnos između samopoštovanja, samoučinkovitosti, zadovoljstva s obitelji i životom, usamljenosti i akademskoga postignuća tijekom adolescencije. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo ukupno 180 adolescenata i 301 adolescentica u dobi od 10 do 17 godina (M = 12,45 godina, SD = 2,66), iz dvije osnovne i dvije srednje škole iz Splita. Kako bismo ostvarili cilj istraživanja, koristili smo sljedeće instrumente: Upitnik općih podataka, Upitnik samoučinkovitosti djece i adolescenata (Vulić Prtorić i Sorić, 2006), Skalu obiteljskoga zadovoljstva (Vulić Prtorić, 2004), kratki oblik Skale usamljenosti Sveučilišta u Kaliforniji (UCLA) (Russell, 1996) i Opću skalu samopoštovanja (Rosenberg, 1965). Rezultati pokazuju da su adolescentice bolje u Hrvatskom jeziku od adolescenata, koji su procijenili da su emocionalno učinkovitiji od ženskih adolescenata. S obzirom na dob, predadolescenti bili su zadovoljniji, imali bolju akademsku izvedbu i pokazivali više razine akademske samoučinkovitosti nego stariji adolescenti. Rezultati regresijske analize naglasili su višu akademsku samoučinkovitost i nižu emocionalnu samoučinkovitost kao najsnažnije prediktore akademskoga postignuća. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da više samopoštovanje i viša uvjerenja u samoučinkovitost u svim domenama mogu očuvati dobrobit adolescenata. Osim toga, rezultati ukazuju na važnost razvijanja snažnih uvjerenja u samoučinkovitost, posebno akademsku, za akademsko postignuće.Ključne riječi: adolescencija; akademsko postignuće; samopoimanje; usamljenost; zadovoljstvo


Author(s):  
Getrude C. Ah Gang Grace

Achieving academic success is a shared dream among students. To achieve academic success, psychological strengths, such as psychological well-being, academic self-efficacy, and motivation, are predictors of students’ academic achievement. To examine these factors, a study was conducted on rural students from the Kadazandusun community residing in the interior Sabah division. It is predicted that each of these psychological factors may contribute to the academic achievement of these rural students. There were 668 Kadazandusun rural students from 17 rural schools in Sabah who participated in this study. A set of questionnaires comprising four parts was used to measure all the variables based on the following sequence: Section A measured demographic variables, Section B measured psychological well-being, Section C measured achievement motivation, and Section D measured academic self-efficacy. The simple regression analysis showed that each psychological factor moderately affected academic achievement. Psychological well-being, achievement motivation, and academic self-efficacy contributed 4.4%, 2.2%, and 5.1% of the variance in students’ academic achievement, respectively. This study’s results may give the Ministry of Education, schools, and parents a glimpse of hope that despite educational limitations, such as lack of infrastructure and geographical location, students’ psychological strengths can enhance rural students’ academic performance. Therefore, the educational authorities can provide more programmes regarding works that increase psychological well-being, motivation, and academic efficacy, which may contribute to the academic success of rural students.


Author(s):  
T. Hailikari ◽  
N. Katajavuori ◽  
H. Asikainen

AbstractProcrastination is consistently viewed as problematic to academic success and students’ general well-being. There are prevailing questions regarding the underlying and maintaining mechanisms of procrastination which are yet to be learnt. The aim of the present study was to combine different ways to explain procrastination and explore how students’ time and effort management skills, psychological flexibility and academic self-efficacy are connected to procrastination as they have been commonly addressed separately in previous studies. The data were collected from 135 students who participated in a voluntary time management and well-being course in autumn 2019. The results showed that students’ ability to organize their time and effort has the strongest association with procrastination out of the variables included in the study. Psychological flexibility also has a strong individual role in explaining procrastination along with time and effort management skills. Surprisingly, academic self-efficacy did not have a direct association with procrastination. Interestingly, our findings further suggest that time and effort management and psychological flexibility are closely related and appear to go hand in hand and, thus, both need to be considered when the aim is to reduce procrastination. The implications of the findings are further discussed.


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