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The Effect of Psychological Capital on Academic Success of College Students Mediated Through Student Engagement
64-80Views:21Although psychological capital is theorized to enhance academic success of college students, there is a lack of sufficient empirical evidence supporting this claim. Given this gap, the present study was conducted to explore the role of psychological capital in academic success of college students, mediated through student engagement. Undergraduate and postgraduate diploma students (N=502) were selected using a convenience sampling technique. The participants completed self-reported questionnaires assessing their psychological capital, student engagement, and academic success. To determine the statistical significance of the prediction, hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed. PROCESS macro for SPSS was utilized for analyzing the mediation effect. Results obtained from the regression analyses revealed that psychological capital was positively and significantly related to both engagement and academic success. Notably, the mediation results also demonstrated that student engagement partially mediated the relationship between psychological capital and academic success. The results of the present study might contribute to the existing literature related to the importance of positive psychology in education by providing insight into the complicated relationship between psychological capital, student engagement, and academic success.
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Curricular and Extracurricular Learning among Students with Resilience Potential. Social Inequalities in Higher Education
37-42Views:122Does resilience potential in higher education mature into success or does it remain merely a promise of success due to rising social inequality? We studied curricular and extracurricular learning of students with outstanding academic achievement who entered higher education despite their disadvantage of social background (= students with resilience potential). A student survey database compiled in the research project “Higher Education for Social Cohesion – Cooperative Research and Development in a Cross-border Area” (HERD) (HURO/0901/253/2.2.2.) in 2012 was analyzed. Students of three Eastern Hungarian higher education institutions were surveyed (N = 1205). Students with resilience potential were identified in the intersection of two groups of variables: social background and input academic achievement. We have conducted a cluster analysis, which has resulted in the identification of students with resilience potential and other researched groups: drifters (low social background and low input academic achievement), beneficiaries (high social background and high academic achievement) and indifferent prodigals (high social background and low academic achievement). To sum up our results, the students with resilience potential only use higher education to fulfill curricular requirements, and hit a ceiling, compared to the beneficiaries, when it comes to the student year mining, meaningful extracurricular activities. Thus social inequalities crawl through these invisible channels into higher education and beyond.
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Favouring Middle-and Upper-Class Students? The Structure and Process of Attending China’s Selective Universities
1-16Views:309Research suggests the increasing influence of family socioeconomic status, as measured by parents’ income and occupations, in access to Chinese higher education. Yet, the literature remains inconclusive about the extent to which the social background of rural and urban students is associated with academic and social performance at elite universities. We address this limitation by looking at the academic and social success of representative samples of first- and second-year students enrolled at four Chinese elite universities. Our aim is to understand the characteristics that students from both urban and rural environments bring with them and how those characteristics bear on academic and social performance in university. We found an overrepresentation of students from middle- and upper-class backgrounds in both urban and rural student groups. The fact that the process indicator of cultural capital has a direct association with social success suggests students from urban areas exhibit traits valued in the selective university environment.
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Students with Special Needs and Their Parents – Informal Participation of a Parent in the Education of an Adult Child
44-51Views:87The article presents the issue of participation of adult students’ parents in their academic life. There are many examples in the literature of how important is the support of students’ with disabilities parents at the universites. This determines academic success. Disability (its depth, type, cause, limitations resulting from it) is a determining factor for independence, and consequently for the parent’s participation in the student’s academic life. The parent’s attitude towards their own child’s disability is also related to the parent’s participation in the study. The main questions of presented research is: how do students, parents and university staff see the participation of parents in their adult chilredn higher education? This study was qualitative in nature and the individual in-depth interviews were conducted in the course of the study. Two female students with disabilities and their mothers, as well as a member of staff from the one of Polish university’s disability office, were invited to participate in the study. The results show that students, parents and university’s staff can present different opinions about parental suport. The fact is that parental participation cannot be permanent. Each time this type of support should be considered on an individual basis, with particular regard to the welfare of the the student. The results of the survey are relevant to the university’s process of planning support for students with disabilities so as to work with parents with the students’ consent.
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The Effects of Family Background on the Processes of Foreign Language Learning in Hungary
87-97Views:320In Hungary, the academic achievement of schoolchildren is very strongly influenced by their family background, a statement often quoted in connection with PISA surveys (Róbert, 2004). Although the effects of family background have mostly been studied in connection with key competences, it is easy to see that they are also likely to influence foreign language learning, possibly to an even greater extent (Csapó, 2001). The aim of our paper is to provide an overview of theoretical and empirical findings related to the family background of Hungarian schoolchildren on different aspects of language learning: language choice, individual differences and success in language learning. We hope to provide a meta-analysis of empirical studies and their results, however it needs to be noted that their number is relatively scarce. We would also like to inspire future studies exploring similar, under-researched topics. Research into the effects of family background is imperative, as it appears to play a pivotal role in ensuring equal opportunities in language education.
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Non-completed Studies: What Factors Affect Academic Success or Failure?
79-89Views:262The ratio of early school leavers is 12.5 in Hungary, which means 22nd place within the EU28. Early school leaving is an important issue in all European countries, because those who finished their studies after primary education are more likely unemployed and it causes problems for both them and the society. Higher educational drop-out also an important issue, although for other reasons than early school leaving. It is even more difficult to find precise data on this: we don’t know what proportion of the students is affected by this in Hungary. In this study I analyze the database of the Hungarian Youth Research 2016. This survey was conducted on a representative sample of 15-29 year olds, questioning 8,000 people, therefore, early school leavers and higher educational drop-outs should be found among the interviewees. The results show that early school leavers have significantly worse status both financial and cultural. Some of those who had finished only primary school think that they have successfully completed their studies. They answered that despite 18.3 percent of them have started a vocational training, which didn’t finish. Despite the expectations, not much is known about the higher educational drop-outs. 4.5 percent of the interviewees did not answer the question of whether they had completed their studies: they are probably the drop-outs, but we can just assume that. The results show that they have better cultural status than the others.