Sinking or Swimming in an Academic Pool: A Study of Resiliency and Student Success in First-Year Undergraduates

Abstract

The transition from high school to post-secondary education presents challenges for students. Many variables have been identified as significant predictors of student achievement. Resiliency, defined as the ability to overcome challenges and adversity, may be particularly relevant during the adjustment to post-secondary education. This study assesses whether resiliency incrementally predicts student success after controlling for additional predictors. Participants were 277 undergraduate students who completed self-reports of academic skills, resiliency, personality variables, emotional intelligence (EI), and perfectionism. Students' year-end GPA was collected from the university registrar. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that resiliency, measured by sense of mastery, negatively predicted GPA after controlling for other predictors. The sense of mastery facet of self-efficacy positively predicted GPA; however, the adaptability facet was a significant negative predictor of GPA. Findings suggest that self-efficacy is a salient predictor of academic success, and that strong academic skills may serve as a protective factor for poor adaptability.

The Resilience Journal: Exploring the Potential of Journal Interventions to Promote Resilience in University Students

“…This suggests that MARS is similar in some respects but not identical to those more established measures of resilience or associated constructs. Correlations with satisfaction with life and the personality traits of conscientiousness and neuroticism align with earlier research on resilience among university students (e.g., Wilson et al, 2019). This suggests that MARS is useful as a measure of daily dynamic resilience, but further research is needed to clarify how dynamic resilience relates to other operationalizations.…”

The Big Three Perfectionism Scale–Short Form (BTPS-SF): Development of a Brief Self-Report Measure of Multidimensional Perfectionism

“…The two respective samples of university students were recruited from the same undergraduate participant pool between late September and mid-October 2016. Sample 1 in our study was obtained from a larger resiliency and student success study (Wilson, Babcock, & Saklofske, 2019; Wilson et al, 2019), which included the BTPS as a measure. Sample 2 data were drawn from a study assessing emotional management of others (Austin et al, 2018).…”

Mindful self-care and resilience in first-year undergraduate students

“…Past research exploring resilience as predictors of well-being and positive mental health have revealed mixed findings. While most studies have found that resilience has been associated with life satisfaction, positive mental health, and greater well-being (Hartley, 2011;Stack-Cutler et al, 2014), others have found that certain factors of resilience (e.g., a sense of mastery) predicts flourishing in an academic setting better than other factors (e.g., emotional reactivity; Wilson et al, 2019). To investigate these relationships further, it was hypothesized that resilience variables from the RSYA would predict levels of flourishing in first-year undergraduate students.…”

“…These findings are consistent with studies that show students who evinced protective factors (e.g., relatedness, autonomy, and competence) predicted changes in academic achievement and increased psychological well-being (Pitzer & Skinner, 2017). Emotional reactivity and success in college-aged students requires further exploration as the academic implications of poor emotional regulation and negative emotionality have primarily been studied in young students Wilson et al, 2019).…”