Assessment of the level of well-being and mindset in selected university students in relation to their academic performance

Authors

  • PhDr. Jana Kočí, Ph.D. Charles University, Faculty of Education, Department of Pedagogy
  • Mgr. Petra Koldová Charles University, Faculty of Education, Department of Pedagogy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14712/25337890.3141

Keywords:

well-being, academic well-being, mindset, positive psychology, school success, university students

Abstract

The academic well-being of university students has recently gained attention as one of the main health interests of universities, which themselves want to actively support the well-being of their students. College students are looking for a way to improve not only their personal well-being, but also their academic success. Research confirms  the correlation between students' well-being and their academic performance. The ever-increasing problems with student mental health, poor academic performance and increased dropout rates require regular empirical measurements of student well-being analyzing the current state. The paper presents the results of measuring the level of well-being among selected university students and their mindset in relation to their academic success. The level of academic well-being of selected university students, life satisfaction and evaluation of the correlation between the respondents' mindset and school success were determined through a questionnaire survey. When comparing the data, it was found that the overall level of well-being among the university students interviewed was above average, i.e. 6.06 points on a numerical rating scale of 0-10, and an above-average value of 6.8 points was also recorded for their satisfaction with life. Although respondents reported high psychological well-being with minimal signs of depression, in the long term, students reported being tired and facing high levels of stress. A statistically significant correlation between mindset and school success was measured only in students with borderline results (high academic success or, conversely, very low academic success). In other words, high achievers scored higher on mindset questions and low academic achievers scored lower on mindset. In conclusion, it can be stated that university and higher education should focus on both. Both for academic learning, which brings traditional schooling results, and for building well-being and health of students, thereby supporting not only the psychological health of students, but also their good academic results. 

References

Adler, A., & Seligman, M. (2016). Using wellbeing for public policy: Theory, measurement, and recommendations. International Journal of Wellbeing, 1–35. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v6i1.429

Asbury, K., Klassen, R., Bowyer-Crane, C., Kyriacou, Ch., & Nash. P. (2015). National differences in mindset among students who plan to be teachers. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 158–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683603.2015.1075164

Bryant, F. B., Yarnold, P. R., & Grimm, L. G. (1996). Toward a measurement model of the Affect Intensity Measure: A three-factor structure. Journal of Research in Personality, 30(2), 223–247. https://doi.org/10.1006/jrpe.1996.0015

Butler, J., & Kern, M. L. (2016). The PERMA-Profiler: A brief multidimensional measure of flourishing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 6(3), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v6i3.526

Calo, M., Peiris, C., Chipchase, L., Blackstock, F., & Judd, B. (2019). Grit, resilience and mindset in health students, 317–322. https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13056

Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2014). Positive Psychology: An Introduction. In Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology, 279–298. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9088-8_18

Donaldson, S., Heshmati, S., Young Lee, J. & Donaldson, S. (2020): Examining building blocks of well-being beyond PERMA and self-report bias, The Journal of Positive Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2020.1818813

Li, Y., & Bates, T. C. (2020). Testing the association of growth mindset and grades across a challenging transition: Is growth mindset associated with grades? Intelligence, 81, Article 101471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2020.101471

Liu, Ch., McCabe, M., Dawson, A. et al. (2021). Settings Open AccessArticle Identifying Predictors of University Students’ Wellbeing during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Data-Driven Approach. Environmental Research and Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136730

Lyubomirsky, S., & Lepper, H. S. (1999). A measure of subjective happiness: Preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social Indicators Research, 46(2), 137–155. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006824100041

Madeson, M. (2017). Seligman’s PERMA+ Model Explained: A Theory of Wellbeing. PositivePsychology. https://positivepsychology.com/perma-model/

Martinez, A., & Nguyen, S. (2020). The Impact of Covid-19 on College Student Well-Being. Virgina Tech. https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/99741

Sarrasin, J. B., Nenciovici, L., Foisy, L.-M. B., Allaire-Duquette, G., Riopel, M., & Masson, S. (2018). Effects of teaching the concept of neuroplasticity to induce a growth mindset on motivation, achievement, and brain activity: A meta-analysis. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 12, 22–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tine.2018.07.003

Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. 2. United States: Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster.

Watson, K. (2018). Establishing psychological wellbeing metrics for the built environment. Building Services Engineering Research and Technology, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143624418754497

Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe that personal characteristics can be developed. Educational Psychologist, 47(4), 302–314. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.722805

Published

2023-04-03