New students' psychological well-being and its relation to first year academic performance in a UK university

Abstract

Aims: This study (1) profiled the well-being of first year students entering one UK university, and (2) explored whether initial well-being and year end academic performance were correlated. Method: A total of 117 students (mean age 21, 67% female) completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-General Population, and Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale; academic achievement data were collected from academic records. Results: Almost a quarter of the sample reported quasi-clinical levels of psychological distress and moderate to very severe social anxiety. Quasi-clinical levels of psychological distress were associated with low self-esteem and social anxiety. No statistically significant links were found between well-being as assessed at the beginning of the first year and academic achievement at the end of the first year. Discussion: The failure to find a link in this study between initial well-being and academic performance at the end of the first year suggests that further investigation is required to understand how academic achievement is related to student well-being.

Keywords:

• academic performance
• mental health
• self-esteem
• social anxiety
• university students
• well-being

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our student participants, John Mellor-Clark at CORE-IMS for permission to use CORE-GP, and Michael Liebowitz for permission to use the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale.