Cargando…

University Students' Satisfaction with their Academic Studies: Personality and Motivation Matter

Although there is consensus about the importance of students' satisfaction with their academic studies as one facet of academic success, little is known about the determinants of this significant outcome variable. Past research rarely investigated the predictive power of multiple predictors sim...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wach, F.-Sophie, Karbach, Julia, Ruffing, Stephanie, Brünken, Roland, Spinath, Frank M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4754397/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26909049
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00055
_version_ 1782416008903917568
author Wach, F.-Sophie
Karbach, Julia
Ruffing, Stephanie
Brünken, Roland
Spinath, Frank M.
author_facet Wach, F.-Sophie
Karbach, Julia
Ruffing, Stephanie
Brünken, Roland
Spinath, Frank M.
author_sort Wach, F.-Sophie
collection PubMed
description Although there is consensus about the importance of students' satisfaction with their academic studies as one facet of academic success, little is known about the determinants of this significant outcome variable. Past research rarely investigated the predictive power of multiple predictors simultaneously. Hence, we examined how demographic variables, personality, cognitive and achievement-related variables (intelligence, academic achievement), as well as various motivational constructs were associated with three different dimensions of satisfaction (satisfaction with study content, satisfaction with the conditions of the academic program, satisfaction with the ability to cope with academic stress) assessed approximately 2 years apart. Analyzing data of a sample of university students (N = 620; M(age) = 20.77; SD(age) = 3.22) using structural equation modeling, our results underline the significance of personality and motivational variables: Neuroticism predicted satisfaction with academic studies, but its relevance varied between outcome dimensions. Regarding the predictive validity of motivational variables, the initial motivation for enrolling in a particular major was correlated with two dimensions of subsequent satisfaction with academic studies. In contrast, the predictive value of cognitive and achievement-related variables was relatively low, with academic achievement only related to satisfaction with the conditions of the academic program after controlling for the prior satisfaction level.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4754397
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-47543972016-02-23 University Students' Satisfaction with their Academic Studies: Personality and Motivation Matter Wach, F.-Sophie Karbach, Julia Ruffing, Stephanie Brünken, Roland Spinath, Frank M. Front Psychol Psychology Although there is consensus about the importance of students' satisfaction with their academic studies as one facet of academic success, little is known about the determinants of this significant outcome variable. Past research rarely investigated the predictive power of multiple predictors simultaneously. Hence, we examined how demographic variables, personality, cognitive and achievement-related variables (intelligence, academic achievement), as well as various motivational constructs were associated with three different dimensions of satisfaction (satisfaction with study content, satisfaction with the conditions of the academic program, satisfaction with the ability to cope with academic stress) assessed approximately 2 years apart. Analyzing data of a sample of university students (N = 620; M(age) = 20.77; SD(age) = 3.22) using structural equation modeling, our results underline the significance of personality and motivational variables: Neuroticism predicted satisfaction with academic studies, but its relevance varied between outcome dimensions. Regarding the predictive validity of motivational variables, the initial motivation for enrolling in a particular major was correlated with two dimensions of subsequent satisfaction with academic studies. In contrast, the predictive value of cognitive and achievement-related variables was relatively low, with academic achievement only related to satisfaction with the conditions of the academic program after controlling for the prior satisfaction level. Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-02-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4754397/ /pubmed/26909049 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00055 Text en Copyright © 2016 Wach, Karbach, Ruffing, Brünken and Spinath. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Wach, F.-Sophie
Karbach, Julia
Ruffing, Stephanie
Brünken, Roland
Spinath, Frank M.
University Students' Satisfaction with their Academic Studies: Personality and Motivation Matter
title University Students' Satisfaction with their Academic Studies: Personality and Motivation Matter
title_full University Students' Satisfaction with their Academic Studies: Personality and Motivation Matter
title_fullStr University Students' Satisfaction with their Academic Studies: Personality and Motivation Matter
title_full_unstemmed University Students' Satisfaction with their Academic Studies: Personality and Motivation Matter
title_short University Students' Satisfaction with their Academic Studies: Personality and Motivation Matter
title_sort university students' satisfaction with their academic studies: personality and motivation matter
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4754397/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26909049
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00055
work_keys_str_mv AT wachfsophie universitystudentssatisfactionwiththeiracademicstudiespersonalityandmotivationmatter
AT karbachjulia universitystudentssatisfactionwiththeiracademicstudiespersonalityandmotivationmatter
AT ruffingstephanie universitystudentssatisfactionwiththeiracademicstudiespersonalityandmotivationmatter
AT brunkenroland universitystudentssatisfactionwiththeiracademicstudiespersonalityandmotivationmatter
AT spinathfrankm universitystudentssatisfactionwiththeiracademicstudiespersonalityandmotivationmatter