Gender, planning, and academic expectations in first-year higher education students: testing two alternative...

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Higher Education Studies
• Gender Studies

Background:

• Understanding the interplay of gender, planning, and academic expectations is crucial for student success in higher education.
• Previous research has explored these variables independently, but their mediational relationships require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test two alternative mediation models examining the relationship between gender, planning, and academic expectations.
• To determine whether planning mediates the effect of gender on academic expectations or vice versa.

Main Methods:

• Utilized LISREL 8.80 to test latent variable models with a sample of 662 first-year higher education students.
• Administered the Inventory of Metacognitive Strategies (IEM) and the Academic Perceptions Questionnaire (APQ) to assess planning and academic expectations.
• Employed multigroup confirmatory factor analysis to validate the IEM's structure.

Main Results:

• The model where planning mediated the relationship between gender and academic expectations provided the best fit.
• Gender directly predicted only two academic expectations, but planning mediation extended this influence to all seven.
• Women demonstrated significantly higher levels of both academic expectations and planning compared to men.

Conclusions:

• Planning significantly mediates the influence of gender on academic expectations in higher education.
• Interventions aimed at enhancing planning skills may be particularly beneficial for improving academic expectations, especially for male students.
• The findings have implications for both theoretical understanding and practical strategies in educational settings.