Academic self-efficacy and cognitive strategy use in college students with and without depression or anxiety

Abstract

Objective

This study examined whether college students with and without depression or anxiety differed in subjective cognitive concerns, academic self-efficacy, and cognitive strategy use.

Participants

Participants included 582 college students (M = 19.0 ± 1.0 years-old, 79.4% women, 81.9% White).

Methods

Participants completed online self-report questionnaires on subjective cognitive functioning, academic self-efficacy, cognitive strategy use, and depression and anxiety symptoms, which were used to categorize participants as having anxiety or depression based on established clinical cutoffs.

Results

Participants with anxiety or depression reported greater subjective cognitive concerns and lower academic self-efficacy compared to participants without anxiety or depression, but these groups differed only modestly in cognitive strategy use.

Conclusions

Despite greater cognitive concerns, participants with anxiety or depression reported only modestly greater cognitive strategy use. Future research should evaluate interventions to increase strategy use among college students with anxiety or depression, tailoring these interventions for modern students by incorporating telehealth approaches and smartphone use.

Keywords:

• Academic self-efficacy
• anxiety
• cognition
• college students
• depression

Acknowledgments

The authors have no acknowledgments.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Kentucky.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest or disclosures to declare.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.