Study engagement among UK university students: the role of positive emotions and the personal resources ego-resilience, hope and academic self-efficacy

McKimm, Scott (2017) Study engagement among UK university students: the role of positive emotions and the personal resources ego-resilience, hope and academic self-efficacy. Manchester Metropolitan University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This project investigated the relationship between positive emotions, the personal resources ego-resilience, hope and academic self-efficacy and study engagement. An online questionnaire was created using Qualtrics. Participants were recruited from the participation pool and social media. This study aimed to integrate the Broaden-and-Build theory (B&B) and the Conservation of Resources theory (COR) into a research model concerned with study engagement for UK university students (N=82). Twenty-four male and fifty-eight female participants took part. This study tested ego-resilience, an established measure of how successful a person is at adapting to life tasks because of its links to the B&B theory and because it had not been investigated in relation to study engagement before. Pearson’s correlation coefficients, a hierarchical regression analysis and a mediational analysis were carried out. The findings were consistent with previous research and with the B&B and COR theories’ assumptions. Positive emotions were positively related to study engagement and to the three personal resources. The three personal resources were positively related to study engagement. Positive emotions were found to be predictive of study engagement at stage 1 of the regression and hope and academic self-efficacy were predictive of study engagement at stage 2. Interestingly, it was found through the mediational analysis that hope and academic self-efficacy mediated the relationship between positive emotions and study engagement. Although ego-resilience had a significant correlation with study engagement, it was not predictive of it. The applications, future directions and limitations are discussed