Gender, planning, and academic expectations in first-year higher education students: testing two alternative mediation models

Abstract

We examined the relationships among gender, planning, and academic expectations through the testing of two alternative models with latent variables tested with LISREL 8.80: one model considered planning as a mediator of the relationship between gender and academic expectations, and the other model considered academic expectations as mediators of the relationship between gender and planning. Participants were 662 first-year higher-education students from two academic years, predominantly female (60%) and mainly with majors in the juridical-social field (66.2%). The Inventario sobre Estrategias Metacognitivas (IEM; Inventory of Metacognitive Strategies) and the Academic Perceptions Questionnaire (APQ) were applied at the beginning of the first semester to assess planning and academic expectations, respectively. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the IEM’s structure after examining its psychometric properties with the sample from the first academic year (N = 338). The test of the alternative mediation models with the full sample indicates that the best model was that with planning as a mediator. In this model, gender directly predicted only two APQ academic expectations, but with the mediation of planning, gender predicted all seven academic expectations. Women showed higher levels of academic expectations and planning than did men. The results are discussed at both the theoretical and practical levels.

Professional identity and experience of undergraduate students: an analysis of semantic networks

“…In this sense, professional identity has a social component, as people do not construct this identity with subjective elements only, but also with the various social and contextual inputs they receive. In this logic, the self would be responsible for establishing the self-concept in professional terms, which is constituted in the subjective perspective and evokes the meanings of each person’s values, interests, and capabilities (Alfonso et al, 2020 ; Guichard, 2009 ; Oliveira, Melo-Silva, Taveira, & Postigo, 2019 ).…”

Academic expectations among international students from North-Western China: A case of technology use during and post COVID-19

“…As one of the dimensions of academic expectation, training for employment (TE) is concerned with increasing the knowledge and skills of employees for doing specific jobs. In the context of students, it involves the growth of students' experience in all aspects related to the student's field of study (Diniz et al, 2016 ; Casanova et al, 2019 ; Alfonso et al, 2020 ). It can be related to training to gain significant employment or starting a career (Casanova et al, 2019 ).…”

“…Student international mobility (SIM) is a standard key feature of knowledge transfer. More attention is paid to other features (Diniz et al, 2016 ; Casanova et al, 2019 ; Alfonso et al, 2020 ). It is related to the mindset of completing a portion of one's studies through overseas mobility programs, internships, or careers.…”

“…This attention is more critical when students enter university with different academic competencies and motivations, as well as various vocational or career ideas, or when they are first-generation students with a lack of sufficient and objective information concerning campus life (Braxton et al, 1995 ; Briggs et al, 2012 ; Alfonso et al, 2020 ). These students are often somewhat idealistic about what they can accomplish, and frustration can emerge in the first weeks of college life (Credé and Niehorster, 2011 ).…”

“…At the same time, motivation (M) has been added in this study as one of the domains of academic expectations of students due to their attraction toward a particular task or objective that encourages them to search and engage in analysis to satisfy their interest within an established program (Muturi et al, 2013 ; Villegas et al, 2013 ; Almroth et al, 2019 ). Research on academic expectations points to its multidimensionality, aligning with the multiple experiences that students can have and develop in higher education (HE) (Casanova et al, 2019 ; Alfonso et al, 2020 ). AEs are defined as representations of what HE students expect to do during their academic life (Hassel and Ridout, 2017 , p. 8) by interpreting their HE experiences in line with past experiences (Cole et al, 2009 , p. 56).…”