Difficulties in academic adaptation and intention to drop out of students in the first-year of Higher Education
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Higher Education is a defining moment in the lives of students, characterized by numerous changes in different areas of life. Considering the richness of the Higher Education context in terms of the challenges and opportunities it poses to students, the first weeks of university attendance are particularly relevant. Although most students experience this phase with enthusiasm and satisfaction, some students experience more difficulties in their academic adaptation, which can contribute to situations of academic failure and pondering about dropping out of training. This paper presents a study with 611 students from the first year of Higher Education at a public university in the north of Portugal, from courses in different scientific areas. Through a hierarchical regression analysis, we analysed, at first, the impact of the variables mean access to Higher Education, age, gender, employment status, educational qualifications of the mother and father, and, at a second moment, the impact of difficulties on adaptation to Higher Education, attendance of the first-choice course and first-choice university with the intention of dropping out of students in the first year of Higher Education. The results suggest a different impact of the independent variables, when considering the general sample of students and these grouped by scientific areas of their courses. Based on the results, forms of institutional support are suggested to mitigate the risks of failure and dropout of students in the first year of Higher Education.
Keywords:
Downloads
Article Details
References
AINA, Carmen. (2013). Parental background and university dropout in Italy. Higher Education, 65(4), 437–456. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9554-z
ALMEIDA, Leandro, MARINHO-ARAÚJO, Claisy, AMARAL, Alberto, & DIAS, Diana. (2012). Democratização do acesso e do sucesso no ensino superior: Uma reflexão a partir das realidades de Portugal e do Brasil. Avaliação: Revista Da Avaliação Da Educação Superior (Campinas), 17(3), 899–920. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1414-40772012000300014
ALMEIDA, Leandro (2007). Transição, adaptação académica e êxito escolar no Ensino Superior. Revista Galego-Portuguesa de Psicoloxía e Educación, 14(2), 203–215.
ARAÚJO, Alexandra (2017). Sucesso no Ensino Superior: Uma revisão e conceptualização. Revista de Estudios e Investigación En Psicología y Educación, 4(2), 132–141. https://doi.org/10.17979/reipe.2017.4.2.3207
ARAÚJO, Alexandra, GOMES, Cristiano, ALMEIDA, Leandro, & NÚÑEZ, José Carlos. (2019). A latent profile analysis of first- year university students’ academic expectations. Anales de Psicología, 35(1), 58–67. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.35.1.299351
ARAÚJO, Alexandra, SANTOS, Acácia, NORONHA, Ana Paula, ZANON, Cristian, FERREIRA, Joaquim Armando, CASANOVA, Joana, & ALMEIDA, Leandro (2016). Dificuldades antecipadas de adaptação ao Ensino Superior: Um estudo com alunos do primeiro ano. Revista de Estudios e Investigación En Psicología y Educación, 3(2), 102–111. https://doi.org/10.17979/reipe.2016.3.2.1846
BEAN, John, & EATON, Shevawn Bogdan. (2001). The psychology underlying successful retention practices. Journal of College Student Retention, 3(1), 73–89. https://doi.org/10.2190/6R55-4B30-28XG-L8U0
BEAN, John, & METZNER, Barbara. (1985). Conceptual model of nontraditional undergraduate student attrition. Review of Educational Research, 55(4), 485–540. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543055004485
BLAIR, Alasdair. (2017). Understanding first-year students’ transition to university: A pilot study with implications for student engagement, assessment, and feedback. Politics, 37(2), 215–228. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395716633904
BUSHER, Hugh, & JAMES, Nalita. (2019). Mature students’ socio-economic backgrounds and their choices of access to Higher Education courses. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2019.1576857
CASANOVA, Joana (2021). O abandono de estudantes do Ensino Superior: Estudo de variáveis pessoais e contextuais (Tese de Doutoramento não publicada). Universidade do Minho. http://hdl.handle.net/1822/72076
CASANOVA, Joana, & ALMEIDA, Leandro (2016). Diversidade de públicos no Ensino Superior: Antecipando riscos na qualidade da adaptação e do sucesso académico em estudantes do primeiro ano. Revista Psicologia, Educação e Cultura, XX(1), 27–45.
CASANOVA, Joana, ARAÚJO, Alexandra, & ALMEIDA, Leandro (2020). Dificuldades na adaptação académica dos estudantes do 1.o ano do Ensino Superior. Revista E-Psi, 9(1), 165–181. https://revistaepsi.com/wp-content/uploads/artigos/2020/Ano9-Volume1-Artigo11.pdf
CASANOVA, Joana, BERNARDO, Ana, & ALMEIDA, Leandro (2019). Abandono no Ensino Superior: Variáveis pessoais e contextuais no processo de decisão. In Leandro S. Almeida (Ed.), Estudantes do Ensino Superior: Desafios e oportunidades (pp. 233–256). Braga: ADIPSIEDUC.
CASANOVA, Joana, CERVERO, Antonio, NÚÑEZ, José Carlos, ALMEIDA, Leandro, & BERNARDO, Ana (2018). Factors that determine the persistence and dropout of university students. Psicothema, 30(4), 408–414. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2018.155
CASANOVA, Joana, CERVERO, Antonio, NUÑEZ, José Carlos, BERNARDO, Ana, & ALMEIDA, Leandro (2018). Abandono no Ensino Superior: Impacto da autoeficácia na intenção de abandono. Revista Brasileira de Orientação Profissional, 19(1), 41–49. https://doi.org/1026707/1984-7270/2019v19n1p41
CASANOVA, Joana, GALVE, Celia, BERNARDO, Ana, & ALMEIDA, Leandro. (2020). Abandono como proceso progresivo de desvinculación académica. In A. B. Bernardo, E. Tuero, L. S. Almeida, & J. C. Núñez (Eds.), Motivos y factores explicativos del abandono de los estudios (pp. 117–129). Ediciones Pirámide.
CASANOVA, Joana, GOMES, Cristiano, BERNARDO, Ana, NÚÑEZ, José Carlos, & ALMEIDA, Leandro. (2021). Dimensionality and reliability of a screening instrument for students at-risk of dropping out from Higher Education. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 68, 100957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2020.100957
CASANOVA, Joana, VASCONCELOS, Rosa, BERNARDO, Ana, & ALMEIDA, Leandro (no prelo). University dropout in Engineering: motives and student trajectories. Psicothema.
CERVERO, Antonio, GALVE, Celia, BLANCO, Elena, CASANOVA, Joana, & BERNARDO, Ana (2021). Vivencias iniciales en la universidad, ¿cómo afectan al planteamiento de abandono? Revista de Psicología y Educación - Journal of Psychology and Education, 16(2), 161. https://doi.org/10.23923/rpye2021.02.208
CROSLING, Glenda, HEAGNEY, Margaret, & THOMAS, Liz. (2009). Improving student retention in Higher Education: Improving teaching and learning. Australian Universities’ Review, 51(2), 9–18. https://www.universityworldnews.com/filemgmt_data/files/AUR_51-02_Crosling.pdf
DISETH, Age, & KOBBELTVEDT, Therese. (2010). A mediation analysis of achievement motives, goals, learning strategies, and academic achievement. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(4), 671–687. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709910X492432
EICHER, Veronique, STAERKLÉ, Christian, & CLÉMENCE, Alain. (2014). I want to quit education: A longitudinal study of stress and optimism as predictors of school dropout intention. Journal of Adolescence, 37(7), 1021–1030. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.07.007
ESTEBAN, Maria, BERNARDO, Ana, & RODRÍGUEZ-MUÑÍZ, Luis. (2016). Permanencia en la universidad: La importancia de un buen comienzo. Aula Abierta, 44(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aula.2015.04.001
ESTEBAN, Maria, BERNARDO, Ana, TUERO, Ellián, CERVERO, Antonio, & CASANOVA, Joana (2017). Variables influyentes en progreso académico y permanencia en la universidad. European Journal of Education and Psychology, 10(2), 75–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejeps.2017.07.003
FERRÃO, Maria Eugénia, & ALMEIDA, Leandro (2018a). Differential effect of university entrance score on first-year students’ academic performance in Portugal. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1525602
FERRÃO, Maria Eugénia, & ALMEIDA, Leandro (2018b). Multilevel modelling of persistence in higher education. Ensaio: Aval. Pol. Públ. Educ., 664–683. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-40362018002601610
FERREIRA, Joaquim Armando, & FERREIRA, António (2001). Desenvolvimento psicológico e social do jovem adulto e implicações pedagógicas no âmbito do Ensino Superior. Revista Portuguesa de Pedagogia, 35(3), 119–159.
HOLDSWORTH, Sarah, TURNER, Michele, & SCOTT-YOUNG, Christine (2018). Not drowning, waving. Resilience and university: A student perspective. Studies in Higher Education, 43(11), 1837–1853. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1284193
JIA, Pengfei, & MALONEY, Tim. (2015). Using predictive modelling to identify students at risk of poor university outcomes. Higher Education, 70(1), 127–149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9829-7
MASHBURN, Andrew (2000). A Psychological process of college student dropout. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 2(3), 173–190. https://doi.org/10.2190/U2QB-52J9-GHGP-6LEE
NAYLOR, Ryan, BAIK, Chi, & ARKOUDIS, Sophia. (2018). Identifying attrition risk based on the first year experience. Higher Education Research & Development, 37(2), 328–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2017.1370438
NEWLON, Katrina, & LOVELL, Elyse D’nn. (2017). Community college student-researchers’ real life application: Stress, energy drinks, and career choices! Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 41(3), 217–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2016.1172525
PASCARELLA, Ernest, & TERENZINI, Patrick. (2005). How college affects students: A third decade of research. Jossey-Bass.
RODRÍGUEZ-MUÑIZ, Luis, BERNARDO, Ana, ESTEBAN, Maria, & DÍAZ, Irene. (2019). Dropout and transfer paths: What are the risky profiles when analyzing university persistence with machine learning techniques? PLoS ONE, 14(6), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218796
SCHNEIDER, Michael, & PRECKEL, Francis. (2017). Variables associated with achievement in higher education: A systematic review of meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 143(6), 565–600. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000098
STRATTON, Leslie, O’TOOLE, Dennis, & WETZEL, James. (2008). A multinomial logit model of college stopout and dropout behavior. Economics of Education Review, 27(3), 319–331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2007.04.003
TINTO, Vicent. (2010). From theory to action: Exploring the institutional conditions for student retention. In Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (Vol. 25, pp. 51–89). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8598-6_2
TOMÁS, Rita, FERREIRA, Joaquim Armando, ARAÚJO, Alexandra, & ALMEIDA, Leandro (2015). Adaptação pessoal e emocional em contexto universitário: o contributo da personalidade, suporte social e inteligência emocional. Revista Portuguesa de Pedagogia, 48(2), 87–107. https://doi.org/10.14195/1647-8614_48-2_5
WEBB, Oliver, & COTTON, Debby (2018). Early withdrawal from higher education: a focus on academic experiences. Teaching in Higher Education, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2018.1437130