Managing the Transition: The Role of Optimism and Self-Efficacy for First-Year Australian University Students

Abstract

Students making the transition from high school to university often encounter many stressors and new experiences. Many students adjust successfully to university; however, some students do not, often resulting in attrition from the university and mental health issues. The primary aim of the current study was to examine the effects that optimism, self-efficacy, depression, and anxiety have on an individual's life stress and adaptation to university. Eighty-four first-year, full-time students from the Queensland University of Technology (60 female, 24 male) who had entered university straight from high school completed the study. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing their levels of optimism, self-efficacy, depression, anxiety, perceived level of life stress and adaptation to university. In line with predictions, results showed that optimism, depression, and anxiety each had a significant relationship with students' perceived level of stress. Furthermore, self-efficacy and depression had a significant relationship with adaptation to university. We conclude that students with high levels of optimism and low levels of depression and anxiety will adapt better when making the transition from high school to university. In addition, students with high levels of self-efficacy and low levels of depression will experience less life stress in their commencement year of university. The implications of this study are outlined.People typically experience many changes in their lives as they transition, for example, from school to work to retirement, or from dependent relationships to peer relationships to parenting relationships. Entry into a new life phase introduces new information and experiences to which people must adapt. In every life transition period, individuals are confronted with imposing and sometimes threatening life

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Promoting a collective conscience: designing a resilient staff–student partnership model for educational development

“…Research on self-efficacy has been linked to areas such as student transition and settling in at university (see e.g. Morton, Mergler and Boman, 2014), and academic achievement (see e.g. Caskie, Sutton, and Eckhardt, 2014), but self-efficacy is also an important element in student engagement for the purposes of educational development.…”

Self-directed learning research: An imperative for transforming the educational landscape

“…Students embarking on their first year of post-secondary studies (that is, at colleges and universities) are mostly in a critical developmental phase when making the transition from high school to university and are often confronted with numerous new experiences and stressors (Morton, Mergler & Boman 2014). During this transition phase, most students do not only develop new relationships but also tend to modify existing relationships with parents and family members (Morosanu, Handley & O'Donovan 2010;Morton et al 2014). They deal with the 'emotional shock of moving from the familiar home environment to the very different life at university' (Wilcox et al 2005).…”

“…They deal with the 'emotional shock of moving from the familiar home environment to the very different life at university' (Wilcox et al 2005). The need to adapt their study habits for the new and challenging academic environment contributes to the emotional shock experienced by students (Clark & Dumas 2005) whilst they are undertaking the task of functioning as independent adults (Morton et al 2014). According to Sharma (2012), it is not only academic adjustment which is a concern but also the social and emotional changes that must be dealt with.…”