Academic stress is a significant psychological and educational concern among undergraduate students because university study involves high academic workload, frequent examinations, strict performance expectations, overlapping deadlines, adjustment to new learning environments, and crucial decisions about future careers. Anxiety may increase substantially when students perceive academic demands as exceeding their available coping resources, whereas self-efficacy refers to students' internal beliefs about their capability to successfully organize and execute courses of action required to manage academic tasks. The present study proposes to examine the complex relationship among academic stress, anxiety, and self-efficacy among undergraduate students. A quantitative, cross-sectional, correlational research design will be used. Undergraduate students meeting the inclusion criteria will be recruited using an appropriate non-probability sampling technique. Data will be collected using a demographic information sheet and standardized self-report measures of academic stress, anxiety, and general/academic self-efficacy. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression will be used to examine the study variables. The findings may assist counselling psychologists, student-support services, faculty members, and educational institutions in identifying modifiable psychological factors relevant to undergraduate adjustment.
Background Academic burnout is a concern among undergraduate sports majors. Although previous studies have emphasized training- and school-related stressors, less is known about the role of family resources and related psychological mechanisms. Objective This study examined the associations among family capital, academic self-efficacy, and academic burnout, including differences across family capital dimensions and the mediating role of academic self-efficacy. Methods This cross-sectional study included 325 first- and second-year students enrolled in sports-related degree programs at a sports university in Yunnan Province, China. Pearson correlation, one-way ANOVA, and mediation analysis using PROCESS Model 4 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples were conducted. Results Family capital was positively associated with academic self-efficacy (r = 0.554, p < 0.001) and negatively associated with academic burnout (r = −0.575, p < 0.001). Cultural and social capital were significantly associated with higher self-efficacy and lower burnout, whereas economic capital was not significantly associated with burnout. Students with lower family capital reported lower self-efficacy and higher burnout. Academic self-efficacy partially mediated the association between family capital and burnout (B = −0.52, 95% CI [−0.66, −0.40]), accounting for 44.33% of the total effect. Conclusion Family capital was associated with academic burnout among undergraduate sports majors, with stronger associations for cultural and social capital than for economic capital. Academic self-efficacy represented a partial mediating pathway. Universities should provide targeted academic guidance, learning support, and educational and career information for students with limited family resources and lower academic self-efficacy.
The rapid expansion of online learning in higher education has transformed the way students interact with course content, instructors, and peers, making student engagement a critical indicator of learning success. This study investigates the influence of online learning quality, lecturer support, and academic self-efficacy on student engagement in an online learning environment. Using a quantitative research design, data were collected from university students through a structured questionnaire measuring the four key constructs. The data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis to examine the direct effects of each independent variable on student engagement. The results reveal that all three variables—online learning quality, lecturer support, and academic self-efficacy—have significant positive effects on student engagement. Among these, academic self-efficacy emerged as the strongest predictor, indicating that students’ confidence in their academic abilities plays a central role in shaping their level of participation and involvement. Online learning quality also significantly contributes to engagement, emphasizing the importance of well-designed, interactive, and accessible digital learning environments. Additionally, lecturer support was found to positively influence engagement, highlighting the role of instructor presence, feedback, and communication in fostering an engaging learning experience. These findings suggest that improving both structural and psychological aspects of online education can enhance student engagement. The study contributes to the growing body of literature on online learning by providing empirical evidence on key factors that influence engagement and offers practical implications for educators and institutions aiming to optimize online learning experiences.
Career planning may be relevant not only to students' future career development but also to their current engagement in university learning. Using cross-sectional questionnaire data from 2100 students at one university in Shandong Province, China, this study examined the associations between career planning and learning engagement using multiple linear regression and a parallel intermediary-variable model with bootstrap estimation of indirect associations. Higher career-planning scores were positively associated with overall learning engagement and with cognitive, behavioral, and practical engagement. Among the three career-planning dimensions, planning execution showed the largest estimated coefficient for overall learning engagement. Professional identity and academic self-efficacy accounted for significant statistical indirect associations between career planning and learning engagement, and the estimated indirect association through academic self-efficacy was numerically larger. The interaction between career planning and undergraduate type was not statistically significant, providing no evidence of moderation in this sample. These findings extend research on career development by linking students' career-planning activities with their current learning engagement in vocational and applied undergraduate education. They also identify structured career-planning modules, goal-monitoring activities, individualized feedback, mentoring, and support for academic confidence as potential approaches warranting future evaluation in student-support programs. The cross-sectional, single-institution design precludes causal conclusions and limits generalization beyond the study context.
برنامهریزی شغلی ممکن است نه تنها با توسعه شغلی آینده دانشجویان، بلکه با میزان مشارکت فعلی آنها در یادگیری دانشگاهی مرتبط باشد. با استفاده از دادههای پرسشنامهای مقطعی از ۲۱۰۰ دانشجو در یک دانشگاه در استان شاندونگ چین، این مطالعه ارتباط بین برنامهریزی شغلی و مشارکت در یادگیری را با استفاده از رگرسیون خطی چندگانه و مدل متغیر میانجی موازی با برآورد بوتاسترپ برای ارتباطات غیرمستقیم بررسی کرد. امتیازهای بالاتر برنامهریزی شغلی با مشارکت کلی در یادگیری و همچنین با مشارکت شناختی، رفتاری و عملی رابطه مثبت داشت. در میان سه بعد برنامهریزی شغلی، اجرای برنامهریزی بیشترین ضریب برآوردشده را برای مشارکت کلی در یادگیری نشان داد. هویت حرفهای و خودکارآمدی تحصیلی سهم معناداری در ارتباطات غیرمستقیم آماری بین برنامهریزی شغلی و مشارکت در یادگیری داشتند و ارتباط غیرمستقیم برآوردشده از طریق خودکارآمدی تحصیلی از نظر عددی بزرگتر بود. تعامل بین برنامهریزی شغلی و نوع مقطع کارشناسی از نظر آماری معنادار نبود و شواهدی از تعدیلگری در این نمونه ارائه نشد. این یافتهها پژوهشهای مربوط به توسعه شغلی را با پیوند دادن فعالیتهای برنامهریزی شغلی دانشجویان به مشارکت فعلی آنها در یادگیری در آموزش کارشناسی فنی و کاربردی گسترش میدهد. همچنین، ماژولهای ساختاریافته برنامهریزی شغلی، فعالیتهای پایش هدف، بازخورد فردی، مشاوره و حمایت از اعتماد به نفس تحصیلی را به عنوان رویکردهای بالقوهای که نیازمند ارزیابی آینده در برنامههای حمایت از دانشجو هستند، شناسایی میکند. طراحی مقطعی و تکدانشگاهی مطالعه، نتیجهگیری علی را منتفی و تعمیمپذیری فراتر از بستر پژوهش را محدود میکند.
