Psychological resilience and academic achievement in University Inductees

Given that individuals who rebound from setbacks to improve functioning are considered psychologically resilient, this quality may also help to optimise students' functioning and heighten prospective, educational attainment. In this study we explored how individual resilience was linked to end of Year 1 degree classifications. Resilience was assessed at the start of the first year among 1485 (710 Females) undergraduate inductees (mean age 18.60 SD 1.48) to a single UK university. From a validated self-report scale (Connor & Davidson, 2003) we calculated total resilience (0-100) and five contributory subscale scores of (i) Competence (0-32), (ii) Trust (0-28), (iii) Change (0-20), (iv) Control (0-12), and (v) Spirit (0-8). A two-step cluster analysis was then undertaken to generate homogenous groups of resilience based on gender, total resilience and subscale scores. These clusters were then cross tabulated with end of first year grade classifications. Four clusters emerged based on high and low resilience scores; each cluster comprised at least 300 students. Academically, males reporting high resilience were consistently outperformed by both female clusters. High resilience females achieved twice as many 2i classifications and three times more Firsts than their male counterparts. Equally, high male resilience on entry to Higher Education was linked to great levels of withdrawal, failing or achieving a third class classification at the end of Year 1. These findings suggest a diversified relationship between resilience and prospective academic performance, while also questioning the pursuit of 'high' resilience in male students.

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