Matching Items (2)
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- All Subjects: Graduate students--Psychology.
- Creators: Bernstein, Bianca
Description
Using a sample of 931 undergraduate students, the current study examined the influential factors on undergraduate students' academic performance, satisfaction, and intentions to persist in their enrolled major. Specifically, the current study investigated the salience of interest-major match in predicting academic success. Interest-major match has been found to be one of the most influential determinants of academic and occupational success. However, support for this relationship has been equivocal and modest at best. The present study was designed to improve upon the current understanding of this relation by examining the moderating effect of gender and employing a longitudinal design to investigate the reciprocal relation between interest-major match and academic outcomes. Correlational results suggested that women reported greater interest-major match and results of the path analyses demonstrated a moderating effect of gender. Although a reciprocal relation was not supported, the findings indicated that a student’s level of academic satisfaction may influence the degree of fit between his or her interest and academic major. The results also highlight the tendency for students further along in their academic tenure to persist to graduation despite poor fit. Implications for educators and administrators are discussed.
ContributorsWilkins, Kerrie G (Author) / Tracey, Terence J. G. (Thesis advisor) / Bernstein, Bianca (Committee member) / Homer, Judith (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The demands and expectations of graduate school can be stressful for any student. Graduate students in a romantic relationship, in particular, contend with both individual and dyadic effects of graduate school stress, as stress has been found to be negatively associated with both individual and relational well-being. Asymmetrical graduate student couples, wherein one partner is in graduate school and the other is not, may be particularly vulnerable to relationship strain because of differences in their experience of graduate school. However, non-student partners can help the graduate student cope with stress through dyadic coping. This study sought to examine whether: a) there were associations between graduate school stress on individual (life satisfaction) and relational (relationship satisfaction) well-being, and b) whether these associations were moderated by positive and negative dyadic coping behaviors. Cross-sectional data from 62 asymmetrical graduate student couples were gathered using an online survey. Data were analyzed using Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook 2006). Separate models were conducted to examine overall associations between graduate stress and well-being, and additional analyses were conducted to examine potential moderation effects of perceptions of partner dyadic coping (actor effects) and partner self-reported dyadic coping (partner effects) on the overall associations between stress and life- and relationship satisfaction mentioned above. Results for the overall model suggested that graduate stress is associated with both individual- and relational well-being. Surprisingly, and against prior literature, positive dyadic coping did not buffer the negative association between graduate stress and well-being, and negative dyadic coping did not exacerbate the association. Implications of the findings for future research and for mental health counselors are discussed.
ContributorsSegraves, Megan C (Author) / Randall, Ashley K. (Thesis advisor) / Bernstein, Bianca (Committee member) / Kurpius, Sharon (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017