Quality indicators in Higher Education: analysis of psychosocial factors of students

Abstract

The objective is to determine the influence of substance consumption, emotional intelligence, and academic context on the two main indicators of the quality of university education: academic achievement and degree of satisfaction. Participants in the study were 202 students (82.2% female; mean age 21.83 years). Data were collected with a questionnaire including six parts: sociodemographic data, substance consumption, levels of satisfaction, academic context, academic performance (calculated by averaging the grades of all exams completed) and the Trait Meta Mood Scale-24 to assess emotional intelligence. Data were analyzed through hierarchical multiple regression. The results reveal that prior achievement and satisfaction with academic advances explain 34.9% of academic achievement. However, the predictor variables of satisfaction are different: academic context (academic course and hours of study), emotional intelligence (clarity and repair), and substance consumption (hallucinogenic substances consumed in the last 12 months). All of them explained 23.1%. It is concluded that the personal determinants of university students should be dealt with transversally in order to affect achievement and satisfaction, thus improving the quality of the university system.

Associations between Profiles of Self-Esteem and Achievement Goals and the Protection of Self-Worth in University Students

“…The findings in this study entail some educational and health implications of scope. Students in the university stage are especially vulnerable to the adoption of self-handicapping and defensive pessimism strategies [36] because of the many academic, social, emotional, and economic challenges they must manage during this period, which may damage their psychological well-being [87,88] in case of failure. In effect, the recurrent use of self-handicapping is associated with important damages, not only for academic performance [7], but also for the student’s psychological health (e.g., decreased self-esteem, social rejection, increased depressive symptoms, reduced satisfaction with life) [5,89,90].…”

A scoping review of the psychosocial correlates of academic performance

“…Prior academic achievement was based on students' high school GPA, entrance exam, university credits and prior performance at university. Prior academic achievement was positively correlated with academic performance within 10 studies and showed typical to strong effects (Merchán Clavellino et al, 2019; Nelson, 2016; Ribeiro et al, 2019; Rodríguez et al, 2017; van Rooij et al, 2018; Wright et al, 2013; Zhou et al, 2015). Only one study showed a weak relationship between prior academic achievement and academic performance (Bailey & Phillips, 2016).…”

“…In total, seven studies investigated the relationship between negative emotions, positive emotions or emotional intelligence with academic performance. Positive affect, positive emotional functioning, and emotional intelligence showed weak to strong positive correlations with academic performance (Sadeghi Bahmani et al, 2018; Krumrei‐Mancuso et al, 2013; Lee et al, 2010; Merchán Clavellino et al, 2019; Song et al, 2010). In contrast, negative emotional functioning showed strong negative relationships with academic performance and negative affect showed weak correlations with academic performance (Sadeghi Bahmani et al, 2018; Bailey & Phillips, 2016).…”

First-Year Students Background and Academic Achievement: The Mediating Role of Student Engagement

“…According to James et al (2010), some subgroups of students should be monitored closely, as the literature shows that the experience students have in their first year varies significantly depending on students' backgrounds. Thus, universities should consider improving their mechanisms of collecting information to allow for early identification, support, and monitoring of students at risk of dropping out (Merchán et al, 2019), showing high level of disengagement and low academic achievement.…”