Twenty-sixth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

The present study examines variables of facilitating or undermining potential with regard to different domains of academic adjustment. On the one hand, its focus is on three anxiety-related patterns – all manifested in preservative negative thinking, which has been reported to lead to marked academic, emotional and social difficulties. On the other hand, it looks into the core construct of psychological capital (PsyCap) which has repeatedly been found a positive resource with regard to adaptive behavior. More specifically, the aim of this study is to achieve deeper insights into the mediating role of PsyCap in the relationship between anxiety-related patterns of thinking and academic adjustment. Its motivation was the perception that a better understanding of factors of sustaining or undermining the potential for academic adjustment is crucial in modern society, wherein academic success is increasingly linked to satisfactory occupational and social integration. For this purpose, 250 BA students completed five questionnaires, one assessing participants’ psychological capital, three assessing specific anxiety-related patterns of thinking, and one assessing their academic adjustment. Participants’ grade point average, as an additional measure of academic adjustment, was collected at two points in time. SEM analyses indicated that psychological capital mediates the relationship between anxiety-related patterns of thinking and academic adjustment. They further demonstrated the significance of psychological capital’s unique contribution to the explanation of variance in academic adjustment. Findings are discussed with direct reference to recognition of PsyCap as a positive motivational resource in the domain of Positive Organizational Behavior and adjustment to higher education.