Academic Performance Variables Research Articles

Socio-familial risk factors and personal protective variables of academic performance in Secondary Education students.

Socio-familial risk factors negatively affect the academic performance of students. The objective of this study consisted in analyzing which personal variables can reduce the negative relationship between socio-familial risk factors and academic performance. A sample of 1268 Secondary students was selected, of which 443 had two or more risk factors. The examined variables were the following: Socio-familial, academic goals, causal attributions, academic self-concept, self-efficacy and academic performance. The incidence of accumulation of risk factors in the performance was confirmed. We distinguished at-risk students with good and poor performance from the personal variables analyzed, and showed the protective effect of these variables on performance against risk accumulation. Based on the identification of risk factors that may hinder performance, the findings offer information to develop both educational intervention strategies that improve performance and personal variables that mediate positively in school outcomes.

Undergraduates’ grade-point averages are dependent on their number of friends [Virginia Commonwealth University

According to National Center for Education Statistics (2018), in 2016-17, the average tuition fees for first-time, full-time undergraduates is $8,800 at 4-year public institutions, $16,300 at private for-profit institutions, or $33,500 at private nonprofit ones. The expense is either paid by students and their families or by private and governmental institutions. Either way, it is of everyone’s interest to ensure that the money spent is due, in comparison with the outcomes (high salary, skilled workers, etc.). Hence, it is crucial and beneficial to investigate what factors influence academic performance variable, measured in grade-point average (GPA). This paper investigated the relationship between the number of friends full-time college students have and their academic performance, retention, and persistence since the rate of retention and persistence and academic excellence are intercorrelate and often coexist. The difference in degrees of impact between high school friends and new college friends on undergraduates was examined. The benefits of social support arose from friendship on undergraduates’ welfare, academic retention and performance were explored. Outside factors that could potentially affect the relationship between the number of friends and GPA, such as gender, living arrangement, satisfaction with college environment and overall life were also assessed. It was established that the more friends an undergraduate student has, the more social support they perceive, the happier and more satisfied with college life they are, and the higher GPA they obtain. However, when the size of undergraduate’s network becomes too big, the available time for intimate friends and for studying is compensated, thinning the positive effect of social support and inflicting undergraduates’ potential capability and performance. Since the conclusion was generated from previous researches and reports, it would be beneficial to have surveys or experiments conducted to either disprove or further support the conclusion.

Prediction of academic achievement based on learning strategies and outcome expectations among medical students

BackgroundOne of the most important indicators of the effectiveness of teaching can be the academic achievement of learners, which can be influenced by different factors such as learning methods and individual motivations. The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of predicting academic achievement based on learning motivation strategies and outcome expectations based on a theoretical model.MethodsThis descriptive-analytic study was conducted with the participation of 380 male and female students of nine faculties of medical sciences of Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran. Multi-stage sampling along with the questionnaire of motivational strategies for learning and student outcome expectation scale were used for data collection. The college grade point average (CGPA) of students’ past grades was considered as the academic performance variable. Data analysis was performed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in AMOS software.ResultsThe mean score of the structure of learning strategies, motivational strategies, outcome expectations, and students’ GPA did not show significant statistical differences in terms of gender, marital status, residence location, field of study, and educational level. There was a direct and significant relationship between the motivational strategies’ structures (R = 0.193, p < 0.001) as well as learning strategies (R = 0.243, p < 0.001) and the CGPA, while there was no relationship between outcome expectations and CGPA. Path analysis revealed that self-regulating learning strategies and motivational strategies can predict the academic achievement of these students.ConclusionsConsidering the importance of active and independent learning among medical students, it is necessary for lecturers to use interactive and student-oriented patterns of teaching. Also, students should become familiar with self-regulating learning skills to better understand the information they receive.

Has the association between low school performance and the risk of disability benefit due to mental disorders become stronger over time?

BackgroundThe proportion of young adults on disability benefits due to mental disorders has increased in Europe since the early 2000’s. Poor educational achievement is a risk factor for disability benefits due to mental disorders in early adulthood, yet no study has examined whether this association has become stronger over time.MethodsAll residents of Stockholm County at the time of graduation from compulsory education between 2000 and 2007 (N = 169,125) were followed prospectively for recipient of disability benefits due to a mental disorder from 2003 to 2011. Information about the study participants was obtained by linkage of national registers. Low school performance in the last year of compulsory school was defined as having a merit rating corresponding to the lowest quintile. The association between school performance and disability benefits was examined using Cox proportional hazards models.ResultsLow school performers had a greater risk of disability benefits due to mental disorders during early adulthood, as compared to their better performing counterparts, and this association was more pronounced for the more recent graduation cohorts (OR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.08–1.16).ConclusionsThe association between low school performance and the risk of disability benefits due to mental disorders seems to become stronger during the first decade of the twenty-first century. It is plausible that this trend indicates an increased vulnerability of poor school performers to exclusion from the labor market. Prevention of school failure and adjustment of the labour market to individual variability in academic performance appear to be critical approaches to counteract this trend.

EXAMINING THE PRE‐POST MATRICULATION ACADEMIC METRICS AS CORRELATES OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL STUDENT CLINICAL PERFORMANCE

PURPOSEThe clinical years of medical school are critical in the training of medical students. It is a period that informs and shapes their professional decisions. Results from studies have been perverse about students' academic metrics that predict their clinical success. This study seeks to examine the academic performance metrics that are correlates of osteopathic medical students' clinical performance.METHODSThis is an IRB approved study involving a retrospective review of admission and academic performance records of the first‐two graduated student cohorts from the Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine in North Carolina. For categorical variables, summary descriptive measures—frequencies/percentages will be generated while means, standard deviations/ranges computed for continuous variables. Correlational analyses will be conducted between the academic and clinical performance variables. Secondary exploratory analyses will be conducted inferentially as necessary. All statistical inferences will be considered significant whenever, P ≤0.05.RESULTS (Preliminary)Entering science, non‐science and total GPA are positively correlated with third and fourth‐year medical school GPAs. While entering science and total GPA are positively correlated with COMLEX‐USA Level 2‐Cognitive Evaluation (CE) total score they are not positively correlated with any of the Clinical Sciences Disciplines scores or COMLEX‐USA Level 3 total score or any of the Clinical Sciences Disciplines scores. Entering non‐science GPA is positively correlated with COMLEX‐USA Level 3 ‐ Family Medicine only.While the Physical component of the MCAT is not correlated with enrolled third and fourth‐year medical school GPAs or board exams level 2 or 3, the verbal component is positively correlated with fourth‐year medical school GPAs only. The biology component and the Total MCAT score of the MCAT is positively correlated with both COMLEX‐USA Level 2‐Cognitive Evaluation (CE) total score and COMLEX‐USA Level 3 total score. The biology component also positively correlate with level 2 family and internal medicine and level 3 emergency and internal medicine scores. The third and fourth‐year medical school GPAs are positively correlated with both COMLEX‐USA Level 2‐Cognitive Evaluation (CE) total score and COMLEX‐USA Level 3 total score and all Clinical Sciences Disciplines scores.CONCLUSIONPreadmission academic variables are associated with matriculation academic and second and third‐level national board examinations performance of osteopathic medical students. Admission processes should consider the importance of these metrics in student recruitment to maximize their clinical success post‐matriculation.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Examination of Factors Relating to Student Performance on the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment

Objective. To examine relationships between students' demographic and academic performance factors and their scores on the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (PCOA). Methods. Students' PCOA scores and demographics (eg, age, race/ethnicity, sex), preadmission data [eg, cumulative and science grade point average (GPA), Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT)], and academic performance variables (eg, pharmacy GPA, academic standing) were analyzed for one class of third-year pharmacy students (N=159). Independent t-tests and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to compare scores by demographic variables. Pearson's r correlations were used to assess relationships between PCOA scores and age, PCAT scores, and GPA. Stepwise linear regression was conducted to determine the predictive ability of variables with significant correlations to PCOA performance. Results. Significant correlations were found between sex and PCOA scores with males scoring higher than females. Significant correlations with PCOA scores were also found for PCAT scores, pre-pharmacy science GPA, and pharmacy didactic GPA. Significant differences were found by academic standing, where students in academic difficulty who were allowed to proceed without repeating curricular content scored significantly lower on the PCOA than those who did not experience academic difficulty. Conversely, there were no statistical differences between those who repeated courses and those who never experienced academic difficulty. PCOA performance predictors in the final regression model included PCAT composite score, pharmacy GPA and sex. Conclusion. New findings included differences in PCOA scores by sex and by academic standing, a variable not previously explored in published studies. Findings have implications for remediation decisions in pharmacy curricula.

Studying the impact of critical thinking on the academic performance of executive MBA students

Developing critical thinking abilities is an essential aspect of education that has been the endeavor of many instructors throughout the years, as it is believed that it can lead to higher academic performance. The present paper aims to analyze the impact of critical thinking on the academic performance of executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. We perform multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to analyze the impact of critical thinking on the academic performance in a sample of 1620 executive MBA students, in each of four academic areas (i.e., Operations, Marketing, Finance, and Strategy & Leadership). The critical thinking variable is measured using the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) test and the academic performance variable is measured by the average grades obtained by the MBA students. In terms of findings, it is reasonable to advance that critical thinking has a positive impact on the average academic performance of MBA students. The analysis and interpretation capabilities are involved in the planning process, while the evaluation of arguments, inference, and deduction are important for decision-making. Both sets of skills are trained in the Marketing and Strategy & Leadership courses, with better results than those obtained in the Operations and Finance courses that demand more mathematical-analytical capabilities, verification of information, and capacity for decision-making, and with a view to solving problems in a more structured way. Critical thinking, broadly defined as the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement, has not been previously studied, to the best of our knowledge, in relation to the academic performance of MBA students. We also aim to contribute to the literature with evidence from the Peruvian arena. Implications for practice are provided.

Competency-Based Learning for Motivation and Academic Performance in a Pre-calculus Course

This research evaluated the effect of the Competency-Based Learning strategy supported by the Web on academic performance and motivation variables, in a Pre-calculus distance course. Moodle was used as the management platform for the course. The participants in the study were students of recent entry to the university in the careers of Engineering in Teleinformatics and Engineering in Works and Services at the University Center of the South Coast of The University of Guadalajara. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was applied at the beginning and at the end of the instruction to evaluate the significance of the Competency-Based Learning (CBL). Two groups were formed, the experimental group composed of students who participated under the Competency-Based Learning strategy, and the control group, who completed the pre-calculus course in a face-to-face fashion. The data provided in the present study was analyzed using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS), version 9.4. t-tests were performed for independent and paired samples. Parametric Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to evaluate the significance of the academic performance variables and motivation of the students submitted to the CBL strategy. The Motivation variable was evaluated through a pre-test and a post-test. The results showed that the students who participated under the instructional strategy of CBL in the Pre-calculus course obtained higher academic performance than those obtained by their peers in the traditional group. The students who took the course under the CBL showed the same levels of intrinsic motivation throughout the course. The target levels of extrinsic orientation of the students who participated in the experimental group suffered changes in their levels. The results of the analysis supported the hypothesis and showed that the experimental group reached levels of intrinsic motivation superior to those achieved by the participants in the control group.

The Impact of Internet on the Youth Leadership

In the conditions of digitalization of economy, acceleration of information technologies, automation of industrial processes Internet serves as one of the most powerful and effective tool for successful business activity. The active introduction of communication, information and other services form the prerequisites for the society transition from traditional ways of development to innovations, which are based on the active use of information technologies. One of the areas undergoing digital transformation is the academic life. The use of the Internet for educational purposes is seen as the key to facilitating the learning process, the formation of general and special competences of graduates, their ability to self-discipline, responsibility, autonomy and leadership. The main aim of the research is to analyze the role of information technologies in the formation of leadership qualities of young people, to study the relationship between the students’ academic performance and their leadership qualities. The analysis of literary sources and approaches to solving the issue of leadership among the young generation shows that the problem of increasing the academic performance of students in Bangladesh public and private universities through the prism of developing their leadership qualities is of great relevance. The main hypothesis of the work is the connection between the level of academic performance of a student and his/her leadership qualities. The subject of study is students of higher education institutions in Bangladesh. Methodical tools of the study were methods of data analysis and synthesis, regression method, Pearson chi-square test, methods of qualitative and quantitative analysis. Analyses were done using data collected from 609 students of several departments of International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), a private university located in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The statistical association between academic performance and several explanatory variables was checked. Variables like age, depression, part-time job, internet for movies and/or music, relationship status and hours spend (daily) on the internet for studying were found to impact the academic performance level significantly. The study empirically confirms and theoretically proves that having leadership qualities is one of the key determinants of a student’s success, his/her ability to quickly acquire new knowledge and skills. The existence of significant influence of leadership on the level of graduates’ employment and the success of their career are substantiated. The findings of this study would help students, teachers and corresponding authority of the institution to comprehend the factors impacting the academic performance of the students and take further actions accordingly. Keywords: leadership, academic performance, CGPA, internet, chi-square test, logistic regression analysis, social networking.

Relación entre las funciones ejecutivas y la empatía y su influencia en el rendimiento académico en alumnado de Formación Profesional Básica

Introducción. Una de las líneas de investigación que mayor interés ha despertado durante estos últimos años ha sido determinar el papel que juegan ciertas habilidades cognitivas en el desempeño académico. Este artículo describe la relación existente entre las funciones ejecutivas (interferencia, flexibilidad y planificación), la empatía y su influencia en el rendimiento académico de un grupo de alumnos que estudia en un instituto de Formación Profesional Básica (FPB).Método. La muestra estuvo compuesta por un total de 80 alumnos/as entre los 15 y los 19 años de edad. Los instrumentos empleados fueron: STROOP (interferencia), Trail Making Test (TMT) (flexibilidad), Torre de Hanoi (planificación) y TECA (Test de Empatía Cognitiva y Afectiva). La variable rendimiento académico fue medida a partir de los resultados obtenidos en el ámbito sociolingüístico y en el científico-tecnológico (calificaciones de las distintas asignaturas). Se aplicaron correlaciones de Pearson y regresiones múltiples.Resultados. Los resultados indican que no existe una relación significativa entre las funciones ejecutivas y la empatía. El 15% de la variabilidad del rendimiento académico se puede explicar mediante el nivel de las funciones ejecutivas. En cambio, la empatía no influye en el rendimiento académico.Discusión y conclusiones. El estudio demuestra la importancia de contemplar el desarrollo de las funciones ejecutivas en los/as adolescentes que cursan la FPB y determinar su influencia en el rendimiento académico.

Enablers for good placements of graduates: fitting industry’s needs

PurposeCompanies are looking for certain employability attributes and personality traits while recruiting and selecting suitable candidates for their organizations and there is a mismatch in what the higher educational institutes are grooming the graduates. There is therefore a need for proactive management of career development of students. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachThis research involved an exploratory study on a database of 445 students enrolled and passed out from the five batches of two years business management course from 2012 to 2016 in a business school in India, to identify the parameters which led to generating good placement package for them. The impact of independent variables of live industry projects, communication skills, academic performance, classroom attendance and co-curricular activities on the placement package was studied using stepwise regression analysis.FindingsThe study revealed that industry projects, co-curricular activities, communication skills and academic performance were the key enablers which helped the students become industry ready and employable.Research limitations/implicationsThis research involved the study of effect of only four independent variables- academic performance, communication skills, participation in live industry projects and co-curricular activities on the placement package received by the students. There is a scope of extending this study by considering the effect of other variables such as educational background (graduation stream, performance in that stream, scores attained in competitive exams, etc.), family background (family income, occupation of parents and their qualification, family size, etc.), geographical background (rural, urban or semi-urban) and work experience on the final placement package received by the student.Practical implicationsEmployability depends on a multitude of factors which can be broadly put under three categories of knowledge, skills and attitude (Khare, 2014). Universities need to work right from the first year toward developing a wider range of employability skills rather than focusing only on developing generic competencies in the students. The results of regression analysis indicate that the impact of different predictors for a good placement package vary in strength and a student needs to focus on balancing all of them in order to get a good placement. Educational institutes can replicate this study to identify the overall employability of their students.Originality/valueWith the increase in demand from industry for work ready graduates, there is a huge pressure on educational institutes to prepare their students for the corporate world. Such studies would help the institutes in focusing on various parameters which would ultimately assist students pursuing courses in post graduate level like business management or other master courses in getting good placements.

Contextual variables associated with differences in educational performance between European Union countries / Variables contextuales asociadas a las diferencias de rendimiento educativo entre los países de la Unión Europea

Extensive literature exists which shows the relation between academic performance and other variables of a contextual nature. A secondary analysis of the results corresponding to performance in PISA 2015 has enabled us to classify European Union countries into two different levels. The degree of relation between performance and contextual variables such as socioeconomic level, schooling indicators, resources allocated to education and organizational culture and school governance has also been studied at a national level. Subsequently, after selecting the variables that correlate the most with performance, the effects of the contextual variables on the differences of countries with high and low performance have been measured using a logistic regression model. Results show the role of some of the variables considered, with the economic level of the country standing out in particular, as well as parental involvement in decision-making. By way of conclusion, a series of recommendations are formulated to advance towards improvements in performance and to achieve educational convergence among EU countries.

Do family environment, parental care and adolescent externalizing problem mediate the relationship between parental readiness and adolescent school performance among commuter families?

ABSTRACTThe lifestyle of commuter families has become a concern in Malaysian society. Commuting and separation from nuclear families may result in negative impacts on the commuters and their families. This study aimed to investigate the relationships among family environment, parental care, parental readiness, and adolescent externalizing problems and adolescent school performance among commuter families by proposing a mediation model. A total of 434 respondents (dyadic-relation) from commuter families in Peninsular Malaysia completed a set of questionnaires. Model comparison showed that the mediation model was established with an acceptable fit index. Findings reported that parental care and family environment were significantly partial mediated the relationship between parental readiness and adolescent academic performance. However, adolescent externalizing problem was not statistically significant. The findings accounted 38% of the variability in adolescent academic performance explained by the model with total effect 0.69. Results suggests the importance of families’ roles and functions in adolescent school performance. It supports the theoretical backgroud of the research which explains the effect of family functions and parental roles in adolescent development and school performance. Parental roles need to be addressed to ensure commuting families play a parenting responsibilities in adolescent development and create a work-family balance situation.

Incidencia de la realidad aumentada en la enseñanza de la historia. Una experiencia en tercer curso de educación primaria

In the following study, the integration of Augmented Reality is valued as an emerging technology with strong possibilities of application in the educational field. In our study, a teaching unit «Time and History» of the Social Science subject in the third course of Primary Education has been implemented. Using different historic 3d image from SketchUp software, specifically the models used have been taken from Warehouse as Augmented Reality scenes and have been visualized through the pc software Aumentaty Author . The sample includes 56 students attending a school in the province of Albacete (Spain). From a quasi-experimental design with a control and an experimental group two dimensions have been analysed: the academic performance and different motivational variables. This paper includes detailed information about the teaching unit, defining contents and time of each session. Unlike other similar studies, this work does not show significant improvement in the students’ academic performance or in their motivation. However, students do believe to have participated actively and that the tool facilitates the learning process making it easy and clear. Moreover, thanks to this method, students have had the chance to work in small groups, improving the cooperation and the social integration, as well as learning the interactive and virtual possibilities that this tool could offer and which help them to improve the digital competence and the searching and information selection skills.

Students’ Disciplined Character as the Effort to Improve Self-Esteem and Academic Performance

This study reports the results of 1-year investigation into students’ disciplined characters with their self-esteem and academic performance. Participants have performed their disciplined behaviour so that the data are explored by using exploratory approach. It focuses on self-esteem and learners’ academic performance variables. There are three participants (1 female and 2 males) considered to have high disciplined behaviour were involved in order to investigate the disciplined character relating to self-esteem fixation and academic performance. The data for self-esteem and academic performance were collected by conducting in-depth interviews, participating in observations, and documentary studies and which were analyzed using John W. Creswell’s model. The significance of data processed is that the disciplined character makes learners are able to socialize well and constructively with colleagues and educators. Appreciation coming from a disciplined attitude makes learners feel more “precious”, because their effort is worthwhile. There is a strong encouragement from the learners to be more disciplined in learning, because they have good academic performance that makes them more valuable (appreciated in learning process) for every effort they do.

Examining the relationship between prerequisite grades and types of academic performance in pharmacy school

PurposeTo investigate relationships between different prerequisite course grades and grade point average (GPA) of different types of academic performance in a Canadian entry-to-practice pharmacy program while controlling for important demographic variables. MethodsData from eight years of recently admitted students (2007–2014) were used to conduct a series of multiple linear regression analyses to assess relationships between prerequisite course GPA and eight different pharmacy school academic performance variables including: GPA in each of the first three years of the program, overall Y1-Y3 GPA, and GPA in pharmaceutical science, clinical science, clinical practice, and behavioral, social, and administrative (BSA) science courses. Demographic predictor variables including gender, mature status, and whether students attended ranked versus non-ranked universities were included as control variables. ResultsAnalysis reveals that Biology and Biochemistry prerequisite GPA consistently predicts all eight academic performance variables while prerequisite English GPA was found to predict only clinical practice and BSA GPA. Being female and attending ranked universities were revealed as positively associated with most types of performance. Being classified as a mature student generally predicted lower academic performance. ConclusionsThe consistent relationship between biology-based prerequisites and academic performance warrants consideration for increasing their weight in admissions GPA calculations. The fact that the set of prerequisites and demographic variables are weaker predictors of clinical practice and BSA performance than pharmaceutical science performance provides empirical support for recent moves to include non-traditional admission criteria.

Food Insecurity and Behavioral Characteristics for Academic Success in Young Adults Attending an Appalachian University.

In order to investigate the impact of food insecurity on college students in a highly health disparate region we (1) assessed the prevalence of food insecurity among young adults at a large, rural university in Appalachia, and (2) investigated the relationship between food insecurity and behavioral characteristics including academic performance, coping strategies, and money expenditure. A cross-sectional design was used to capture a representative sample of young adults attending a large, central Appalachian university in Fall 2016. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Adult Food Security Survey was used to measure food insecurity. Independent variables include money expenditure (MES), coping strategies (CSS), academic performance (APS), and demographic, health, economic and culinary variables. Participant responses (n = 692) showed one third (36.6%) of respondents were food-insecure. Students with higher scores for MES and CSS had significantly higher odds of being food-insecure (odds ratio (OR) = 2.07; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.81 to 2.38 and OR = 1.20; 95% CI 1.16 to 1.23, respectively). The odds of high APS scores (OR = 0.79; 95% CI 0.73 to 0.86) were inversely related to food insecurity. Results of the logistic regression showed MES, CSS, health, and school year remained a significant predictor of food insecurity in college students. These findings suggest behavioral differences in terms of coping strategies, money expenditure, and academic progress among food-insecure students and can be used to identify and target at-risk students to promote student food security and well-being.

Neurocognitive and Symptom Trajectories of ADHD from Childhood to Early Adolescence.

This longitudinal study investigated changes in neurocognitive functioning from childhood to early adolescence in a sample of children diagnosed with DSM-IV attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It also compared the neurocognitive trajectories of children who continued to meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD at follow-up and those in partial remission. Children diagnosed with ADHD (N = 55) were tested at baseline (M = 7.7 years, SD = 1.5) and 4 years later (M = 11.7 years, SD = 1.5) on measures of intellectual, academic, and executive functioning. Group and individual analyses were used to examine neurocognitive functioning over this period. Intellectual function was stable over the 4-year interval. Reliable change analyses highlighted variability in academic performance. Approximately half the sample showed a reliable decline in at least 1 academic subject with almost a third showing reliable improvement. Executive functions generally followed a stable or improving course, with significant improvements on measures of information processing, attentional control, cognitive flexibility, and goal setting. There was some evidence of better neurocognitive performance in those with partial symptom remission at follow-up. Study findings emphasize the importance of monitoring academic performance in children with ADHD, including examination of change at the individual level. Declines in academic performance were observed, despite stable intellectual and improving executive function. Early cognitive functioning did not predict symptom remission; however, reduced symptoms at follow-up were associated with better executive function.

The relationship of gender, time orientation, and achieving self-regulated learning

&lt;p class="RESUMENCURSIVA"&gt;The present study has three objectives: i) to test a theoretical model of academic achievement modulated by self-regulated learning; ii) to analyze significant differences between self-regulated learning means and time patterns depending on the gender of the participants; and iii) to identify self-regulated learning profiles toward academic achievement based on gender. The data were obtained from a sample of 192 university students in education degrees who were administered three instruments: a Future Time Orientation subscale by Zimbardo and Boyd, (1999); the 2x2 Achievement Goals Scale by Elliot and McGregor (2001), and a Learning Regulation subscale by Vermunt (1998). In addition, they answered a question about their mean grade point average up to that point in the academic degree studied. The results indicate a significant and positive relationship between the future time orientation, approach goals, and external regulation strategies. Significantly higher scores are observed in women than in men on key academic performance variables, although the effect size was not large. The gender differences are exclusively quantitative. In both groups, the characteristics of the learner profiles are somewhat similar, with no important differences observed for the gender condition. In general, avoidance goals and external regulation strategies can lead to success in academic achievement, as long as they are accompanied by a future orientation, internal regulation, and approach goals.&lt;/p&gt;

RELAÇÃO ENTRE A PERCEPÇÃO DA AUTOEFICÁCIA ACADÈMICA E O ENGAGEMENT DE ESTUDANTES DE ENGENHARIA

Abstract:Self-efficacy reflects the belief that the individual has in his/her own capabilities to organize and execute actions that are needed to accomplish certain goals. On the other hand, Engagement refers to a positive psychological and motivational state, which is associated with individual well-being. This investigation aims to examine the relationship between these two variables, presenting the hypothesis that there is a positive association between self-efficacy and engagement, of engineering students in Higher Education. The sample was composed of 361 students (M = 20.54; SD = 4.24). Self-efficacy and engagement assessment was conducted through a questionnaire administered to students in classroom. Results show a positive and significant association between the variables, being the strongest association between the behavioral dimension of engagement and self-efficacy, which are, in turn, positively associated with academic performance variables. In this study we present and discuss these results and their implications for psychological research and practice.Keywords: Higher Education; Academic Self-Efficacy; Engagement; Academic SuccessResumo:A autoeficácia refere-se às crenças que o indivíduo tem nas suas próprias capacidades para organizar e executar as ações necessárias à concretização de determinados objetivos. Por seu lado, engagement refere-se ao estado psicológico positivo e motivacional, relacionado com o bem-estar individual. Nesta investigação procurou-se estabelecer a relação entre estas duas variáveis, assumindo uma hipótese de associação positiva entre a autoeficácia e o engagement, tomando estudantes do Ensino Superior de diferentes ramos da Engenharia. A amostra foi constituída por 361 estudantes (M = 20.54; DP = 4.24). A avaliação da autoeficácia e do engagement foi realizada através da aplicação dos questionários aos estudantes em sala de aula. Os resultados revelam uma associação positiva e significativa, sendo maior a associação encontrada entre a dimensão comportamental do engagement e a autoeficácia, estando também estas duas variáveis positivamente associadas ao rendimento académico. Nesta comunicação apresentam-se e discutem-se estes resultados e as suas implicações na investigação e prática psicológica.Palavras-chave: Ensino superior; Autoeficácia académica; Engagement; Sucesso académico.