Pre-entry Characteristics, Perceived Social Support, Adjustment and Academic Achievement in First-Year Spanish University Students: A Path Model

ABSTRACT

Transition to university is a multifactorial process to which scarce consideration has been given in Spain, despite this being one of the countries with the highest rates of academic failure and attrition within the European Union. The present study proposes an empirical model for predicting Spanish students' academic achievement at university by considering pre-entry characteristics, perceived social support and adaptation to university, in a sample of 300 traditional first-year university students. The findings of the path analysis showed that pre-university achievement and academic and personal–emotional adjustment were direct predictors of academic achievement. Furthermore, gender, parents' education and family support were indirect predictors of academic achievement, mediated by pre-university grades and adjustment to university. The current findings supporting evidence that academic achievement in first-year Spanish students is the cumulative effect of pre-entry characteristics and process variables, key factors that should be taken into account in designing intervention strategies involving families and that establish stronger links between research findings and university policies.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic achievement
• first-year university students
• pre-entry characteristics
• perceived social support
• university adjustment

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under Grant PSI2011-24535.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

María Soledad Rodríguez

Author Notes

María Soledad Rodríguez, PhD, is a full professor of psychometrics in the Department of Social, Basic Psychology and Methodology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain. She is also a member of the research team about transition to higher education. She is interested in construction and validation of scales and in structural models. In line with the interest of the group on Higher Education, she has developed the adaptation of perceived social support scales and the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire to Spanish students.

Carolina Tinajero

Carolina Tinajero, PhD, is a full professor in the Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain. She is an expert in evaluating the effects of cognitive styles and self-regulated learning on academic performance. She is member of the investigation group coordinated by Dr. Páramo since it was founded and participates also in the investigation line on perceived social support and adjustment to university.

María Fernanda Páramo

María Fernanda Páramo, PhD, is a full professor in the Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain. She directs an investigation group which have carried out research on cognitive styles and their relation with information processing, learning, and academic achievement. A more recent focus of interest of the group is transition to higher education, in particular the influence of perceived social support in adjustment and academic achievement of Freshman Students.