Pre-entry Characteristics, Perceived Social Support, Adjustment and Academic Achievement in First-Year Spanish University Students: A Path Model

Abstract

Transition to university is a multifactorial process to which scarce consideration has been given in Spain, despite this being one of the countries with the highest rates of academic failure and attrition within the European Union. The present study proposes an empirical model for predicting Spanish students' academic achievement at university by considering pre-entry characteristics, perceived social support and adaptation to university, in a sample of 300 traditional first-year university students. The findings of the path analysis showed that pre-university achievement and academic and personal-emotional adjustment were direct predictors of academic achievement. Furthermore, gender, parents' education and family support were indirect predictors of academic achievement, mediated by pre-university grades and adjustment to university. The current findings supporting evidence that academic achievement in first-year Spanish students is the cumulative effect of pre-entry characteristics and process variables, key factors that should be taken into account in designing intervention strategies involving families and that establish stronger links between research findings and university policies.

Binge Drinking, Cannabis Co-Consumption and Academic Achievement in First Year University Students in Spain: Academic Adjustment as a Mediator

“…In other words, alcohol and cannabis co-consumers perceived feelings of dissatisfaction and disengagement from university life, such as a lower motivation to complete academic requirements and lower academic effort, leading to academic failure. Despite the difficulties in explaining academic achievement in co-consumers on the basis of academic adjustment, many previous studies include academic adjustment as a powerful predictor of university outcomes [39,42,46,51,84], or as a mediator of the relationship between drinking motives and alcohol consequences [66].…”

“…Finally, the weight of variables such as pre-university achievement [51,97], background variables [30], social support [98] and health problems [72] should also be tested in a more complete version of the model.…”

A new academic performance indicator for the first term of first‐year science degrees students at La Laguna University: a predictive model

“…identified high school grade point average as a significant predictor of institutional attachment, as a significant predictor of institutional, academic and social adjustment to university, after controlling for the effects of gender and family background; see also Rodríguez et al . .…”

“…Social and demographic factors affect the academic success subsequent to primary education, and so they are indirectly being taken into account in the measurements of the previous achievements considered. In a recent investigation of predictors of university adjustment in Spanish students, P aramo et al [31] identified high school grade point average as a significant predictor of institutional attachment, as a significant predictor of institutional, academic and social adjustment to university, after controlling for the effects of gender and family background; see also Rodr ıguez et al [32].…”

Perceived Social Support and University Adjustment among Spanish College Students

“…Various studies across the world in the last decades have identified perceived social support as a protective, empowering factor that is key to enabling emerging adults to fulfil the challenges involved in university life (Abdullah, Kong, & Talib, 2014;Katz & Somers, 2017;Lidy & Kahn, 2006;Rodriguez, Tinajero, & Paramo, 2017;Tao et al, 2000). However, little is known about how different dimensions of support might influence the diverse areas of adaptation to university in emerging adulthood.…”