Cross-lagged associations between study and work engagement dimensions during young adulthood

Motivational mindsets, mindset churn and academic performance: The role of a goal-setting intervention and purpose in life

The motivational mindset model (MMM) is a new student-centered, multidimensional perspective on motivation in higher education and aims to better explain differences in wellbeing, study success and intervention effectiveness. The four types of mindsets within the model (high-impact, low-impact, social-impact, and self-impact) have proven to differ in two important dimensions of wellbeing and predictors of study success, namely a sense of purpose in life and study engagement. The present study expands the MMM by (1) examining the relationship between the mindsets and academic performance, (2) observing the mindset churn in the first year, and (3) exploring the role of the mindsets in the effectiveness of an online, narrative goal-setting intervention. To this end, the mindset of 748 first-year university students was measured at the beginning and the end of the first academic year. Results show that the mindset churn was considerable: on average 58% of the students had changed their mindset at follow-up. Results further show that students with a low-impact mindset at follow-up were more likely to drop out of the first year compared to the other three mindsets. Finally, a group of low-impact mindset students show an increased sense of purpose after participating in the goal-setting intervention and moved to a social-impact mindset during the year. This pattern provides preliminary support that the goal-setting intervention is a purpose-fostering intervention for students entering higher education with a low-impact mindset. A potential working mechanism of the goal-setting intervention is discussed as well as implications and directions for future research.

Study Burnout and Engagement During COVID-19 Among University Students: The Role of Demands, Resources, and Psychological Needs

The COVID-19 pandemic forced most universities to switch from in-person to remote teaching from May 2020 to May 2021. This period covered three semesters of studies, and due to these changes students experienced fundamental changes in their learning. The present research was carried out 3 times during the pandemic (e.g., May 2020, December 2020, and April 2021) to investigate study engagement and burnout, and their associations with various demands, resources, and psychological needs among university students. Self-reports were collected from 1501, 1526, and 1685 university students in Helsinki. The results showed that study burnout increased across the time points, being the highest in April 2021, whereas study engagement was the lowest in December 2020. Further, at the beginning of the pandemic the explanatory power of study-related demands and resources on study burnout and engagement was stronger, whereas in April 2021 the role of psychological needs increased. These results inform strategies to promote students' engagement through distance-learning, mitigating negative effects of the situation.

Motives for Studying and Student Wellbeing: Validation of the Motivational Mindset Model

Research on the joint effect of multiple motives for studying was recently given a push in a new direction with the introduction of the motivational mindset model (MMM). This model contributes to a better understanding of study success and student wellbeing in higher education. The aim of the present study is to validate the newly developed model and the associated mindset classification tool (MCT). To this end, 662 first-year university students were classified in one of the four types of motivational mindset using the classification tool and three exploratory validation procedures were conducted through sense of purpose, study engagement, and students' background characteristics in terms of gender and ethnicity. Both purpose and study engagement are central dimensions of student wellbeing and predictors of study success. The results show that (1) sense of purpose and study engagement differ across the four types of mindset, (2) students in the low-impact mindset show the least optimal pattern of study engagement and sense of purpose, (3) sense of purpose and study engagement are positively related and this relationship is consistent across mindsets, and (4) overall differences in purpose and study engagement between gender and ethnic subgroups stem from one specific type of motivational mindset. The results provide support for the validity of the MMM and the usefulness of the MCT. The implications of the findings are discussed as well as promising avenues for future research.

The Schoolwork Engagement Inventory: Factorial Structure, Measurement Invariance by Gender and Educational Level, and Convergent Validity in Secondary Education (12-18 Years)

This study analyzes the dimensionality, reliability, metric invariance, and convergent validity of the Schoolwork Engagement Inventory (SEI) in secondary education. Participants in the study were 679 students in compulsory and post-compulsory secondary education in a large city in Eastern Spain during the 2014-2015 academic year. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the one-factor model of the SEI is superior to the other alternative models considered, providing an overall schoolwork engagement score in this educational stage. Reliability was also adequate and the instrument was found to be invariant by gender and educational level. Latent mean comparisons revealed a significant decline in schoolwork engagement throughout secondary compulsory education, and returning to higher levels in post-compulsory secondary education. A CFA also showed SEI’s convergent validity with self-regulated learning, given its direct relationship with metacognitive strategies and self-efficacy for learning, and its inverse relationship with test anxiety.