Predicting Student Engagement: The Role of Academic Belonging, Social Integration, and Resilience During COVID-19 Emergency Remote Teaching

Study and personal resources of university students' academic resilience and the relationship with positive psychological outcomes

Introduction

Embarking on university-level studies is a period of new challenges for young people as they meet new academic demands, environments, and teaching systems. Academic resilience, defined as students' capacity to endure challenges while sustaining optimism, positive thinking, and emotional stability, is crucial in enabling individuals to navigate academic difficulties and foster future success. In this context, developing the role of contextual and personal factors in university students' academic resilience and its role in predicting positive psychological outcomes is crucial. This study, grounded in the Study Demands-Resources framework, sought to examine study-related characteristics and self-efficacy as resources that support students' academic resilience. Additionally, it aimed to explore the connections between academic resilience and positive psychological outcomes, such as student engagement and well-being.

Method

The convenience study sample included 350 students from Lithuanian universities: 79.14% were female, the mean age was 23.8 years (SD = 5.7). Students were in varying bachelor's and master's study programs. Data were collected using a self-administered online survey. Descriptive statistics, correlation, regression analyses, and structural equation modelling were applied for data analysis.

Results and conclusion

The study found that students' academic resilience was positively influenced by the characteristics of their study environment and self-efficacy. Furthermore, academic resilience was positively associated with student engagement and well-being. Our findings highlight the role of academic resilience in mediating the interplay between study-related resources, student engagement, and well-being. This research study features practical implications for enhancing university students' academic resilience, engagement, and well-being by strengthening both study-related and personal resources.

Unpacking the Dynamics of AI-Based Language Learning: Flow, Grit, and Resilience in Chinese EFL Contexts

Artificial intelligence and positive psychology play crucial roles in education, yet there is limited research on how these psychological factors influence learners' use of AI, particularly in language education. Grounded in self-determination theory, this study investigates the factors influencing Chinese English learners' intention to use AI for language learning. Utilizing structural equation modeling, this research examines the mediating roles of grit, flow, and resilience in the relationship between basic psychological needs and the intention to use AI. Data were analyzed using AMOS 26 and SPSS 26. The findings reveal that flow, grit, and resilience mediate the relationship between basic psychological needs and the intention to adopt AI tools for language learning. This study provides valuable insights into how educational environments can be designed to fulfill psychological needs, thereby fostering greater engagement and acceptance of AI in language education.

Study demands and resources affect academic well-being and life satisfaction of undergraduate medical students in the Netherlands

INTRODUCTION

Medical students report poor academic well-being in a context of high study demands. Study Demands-Resources theories have outlined mediating processes involving high study demands and low resources to mitigate academic well-being, which is subsequently associated with diminished overall well-being (i.e. life satisfaction). Furthermore, academic well-being and life satisfaction are also affected by interactions between study demands and resources (referred to as moderating processes). However, these mediating and moderating processes clarifying medical students' well-being still need to be investigated. Therefore, this study investigated the mediating role of academic well-being in the associations of study demands and resources with life satisfaction and the moderating role of study demands and resources in relation to academic well-being and life satisfaction among undergraduate medical students.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional survey study, 372 undergraduates from Dutch medical schools participated. The survey included the Study Demands-Resources Scale (workload, growth opportunities and peer support) as well as questionnaires on academic well-being (Utrecht Burnout Scale for students and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Form) and overall well-being (single item on life satisfaction). Based on Study Demands-Resources theories, (moderated) mediation analyses were performed.

RESULTS

Mediating processes were found as growth opportunities were indirectly associated with higher life satisfaction through lower academic burnout and higher academic engagement. Furthermore, workload was indirectly associated with lower life satisfaction through higher academic burnout. This association was moderated as it became weaker with more perceived peer support.

DISCUSSION

A high workload and limited growth opportunities are associated with suboptimal academic well-being and life satisfaction. Perceiving support from peer students slightly buffers the unfavourable effect of workload on academic burnout and subsequently life satisfaction. To promote academic well-being and life satisfaction in medical students, universities can consider to reduce the workload, to create a supportive learning environment and to offer development opportunities.

Factors Associated with Engagement in University Life, and Help Seeking Attitudes and Behaviour in First Year Undergraduate Students

Students transitioning from secondary school to university may experience unique issues that impact their mental health. There is limited research, however, on what drives first year students to seek professional help for mental health problems. There is also a current lack of knowledge about the factors that may be associated with engagement with university life in students transitioning to university, and how engagement may be related to help seeking attitudes and behaviours in a first year university population. Data (N = 165) were drawn from two waves (Wave 1, February 2021, and Wave 4, June 2021) of a longitudinal study of Australian university students commencing study for the first time, which included measures of engagement, belonging, stigma and help seeking intentions and behaviours. The results showed that students with higher levels of depression stigma prior to commencing university at Wave 1 had less positive attitudes towards help seeking at Wave 4. Students had increased odds of seeking help for a mental health problem in Wave 4 if they had moved away for university, reported higher levels of mental health literacy or willingness to disclose, had lower levels of engagement with university life and were experiencing higher levels of general psychological distress. Students experiencing higher thwarted belongingness were also found to have lower levels of engagement with university at Wave 4. Both thwarted belongingness and stigma were found to be associated with engagement with university and help seeking behaviours and should be examined further.

Study-related wellbeing, behavior, and attitudes of university students in the Netherlands during emergency remote teaching in the context of COVID-19: A longitudinal study

Introduction

During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency remote teaching was implemented at all conventional Dutch universities; however, the degree of limitations in on-campus teaching and learning varied during the pandemic dependent on the strictness of the measures. In the present study, it will be investigated how study-related experiences of university students changed in the face of varying limitations in on-campus teaching and learning.

Methods

The study had a longitudinal natural experiment design with three points of measurement during the academic year 2020-2021: November-December 2020 (t1; campuses partially open), March 2021 (t2; campuses fully closed) and June-July 2021 (t3; campuses partially open). In total, 680 Dutch university students (65.9% female; age: M = 21 years, SD = 2.06) filled in online surveys measuring study-related wellbeing (academic burnout and study-engagement), study-related behavior (study effort), and study-related attitudes (education satisfaction, online self-efficacy, and attitudes toward online education).

Results

Overall, students reported moderate levels of academic burnout, study engagement, study effort, education satisfaction, and online self-efficacy; their attitudes toward online education were rather negative. Students' study-related wellbeing and education satisfaction decreased in the period when on-campus teaching and learning was impossible (t2) compared to periods in which on-campus teaching and learning was possible at a low level with several restrictions (t1 and t3). Students' attitudes toward online education and online self-efficacy slightly increased at the end of the academic year (t3); however, the attitudes toward online education remained negative.

Discussion

The findings indicate that students' academic burnout, study engagement, and education satisfaction varied over the course of the academic year in the context of changing limitations in on-campus teaching and learning. To facilitate positive study-related experiences, universities are advised to offer as much on-campus education as possible in times of pandemics.

Associations between gestational age and childhood sleep: a national retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Both sleep quality and quantity are essential for normal brain development throughout childhood; however, the association between preterm birth and sleep problems in preschoolers is not yet clear, and the effects of gestational age across the full range from preterm to post-term have not been examined. Our study investigated the sleep outcomes of children born at very-preterm (<31 weeks), moderate-preterm (32-33 weeks), late-preterm (34-36 weeks), early-term (37-38 weeks), full-term (39-40 weeks), late-term (41 weeks) and post-term (>41 weeks).

METHODS

A national retrospective cohort study was conducted with 114,311 children aged 3-5 years old in China. Children's daily sleep hours and pediatric sleep disorders defined by the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) were reported by parents. Linear regressions and logistic regression models were applied to examine gestational age at birth with the sleep outcomes of children.

RESULTS

Compared with full-term children, a significantly higher CSHQ score, and hence worse sleep, was observed in very-preterm (β = 1.827), moderate-preterm (β = 1.409), late-preterm (β = 0.832), early-term (β = 0.233) and post-term (β = 0.831) children, all p<0.001. The association of pediatric sleep disorder (i.e. CSHQ scores>41) was also seen in very-preterm (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.287 95% confidence interval [CI] (1.157, 1.433)), moderate-preterm (AOR = 1.249 95% CI (1.110, 1.405)), late-preterm (AOR = 1.111 95% CI (1.052, 1.174)) and post-term (AOR = 1.139 95% CI (1.061, 1.222)), all p<0.001. Shorter sleep duration was also found in very-preterm (β = -0.303), moderate-preterm (β = -0.282), late-preterm (β = -0.201), early-term (β = -0.068) and post-term (β = -0.110) compared with full-term children, all p<0.01. Preterm and post-term-born children had different sleep profiles as suggested by subscales of the CSHQ.

CONCLUSIONS

Every degree of premature, early-term and post-term birth, compared to full-term, has an association with sleep disorders and shortened daily sleep duration. Preterm, early-term, and post-term should therefore all be monitored with an increased threat of sleep disorder that requires long-term monitoring for adverse sleep outcomes in preschoolers.