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Life events as predictors of academic performance
Journal of Human Stress
|September 1, 1980
Summary
Significant life change events negatively impact academic performance, especially within the first two years of university. A threshold of approximately 12 events in one year indicates severe academic difficulty.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Student Well-being
Background:
- Life events can cause stress and affect cognitive functions.
- Understanding the impact of life changes on academic performance is crucial for student support.
- Previous research has explored stress and academic outcomes, but specific thresholds for life change impact require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between the quantity of life change events and academic performance in university students.
- To identify potential thresholds for life change events that may negatively affect grade point averages (GPAs).
- To explore the association between life change and severe academic difficulties, including formal sanctions.
Main Methods:
- Collected data on life events occurring in the one- and ten-year periods prior to university entrance for 169 students.
- Employed various methods to quantify life change and correlated these measures with subsequent GPA over three years.
- Conducted further analysis to identify threshold effects and specific life events associated with poor academic performance.
Main Results:
- A significant negative correlation was found between life change and academic performance for the first and second years of study, but not the third.
- A detrimental impact of life change on GPA was observed when approximately 12 or more events occurred within a one-year period.
- Life change events were associated with severe academic difficulty leading to formal academic sanctions, with specific events overrepresented in lower-performing students.
Conclusions:
- The quantity of life change events significantly impacts early university academic performance.
- A threshold effect exists, suggesting that a high number of life events within a year poses a substantial risk to academic success.
- Identifying and supporting students experiencing numerous life changes may help mitigate academic difficulties and prevent formal sanctions.