Establishments of Higher Education (HE) are generally recruiting a more diverse student population. This research has speci cally examined differences in the undergraduate student experience of direct and re-entry students. One hundred and twelve undergraduate direct and re-entry students took part in the study. A six-part questionnaire was used to investigate the impact of age, gender, past experiences of school and motivations for participating in HE on current global self-esteem, academic self-concept and academic stress. Re-entry students reported the most negative experiences of school overall and there was also evidence to suggest that females experienced more negative academic self-concept overall than males. If the reason to participate in HE was for career goals, academic stress levels were the highest. When the reason to participate was for cognitive interest, academic self-concept was positive and these individuals reported the most satisfaction with HE overall. Multiple regression analysis revealed a complex interrelationship of variables relating to academic self-concept, self-esteem and academic stress. These ndings suggest that the different experiences of students in HE cannot be simply explained by age strati cation.
Future studies need to explore the effects of cultural context and environmental experiences such as the role of parenting styles that account for the higher levels of anxiety in English compared with Japanese adolescents.
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