Latent profiling university students’ learning strategies use and effects on academic performance and retention

ABSTRACT

Students’ learning strategies predict and explain academic performance and success in university. This study employed Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to identify students’ unique patterns of learning strategies in university. A total of 2502 first-year US university students participated in this study. LPA identified four profiles: low strategy use, high strategy use, moderate strategy use, and goal-engagement strategy use. A series of ANOVA tests revealed that students in the high strategy use profile earned higher grades than did students in the other profiles. However, there was no significant difference between the high strategy use and goal-engagement strategy use profiles for other academic outcomes. The distribution of profiles varied by gender, but not by race/ethnicity or financial need. Interventions designed to increase students’ academic success in university should include components that target the development of learning strategies, particularly students’ academic goal engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning strategies
• goal engagement
• student success
• latent profile analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Cheon-woo Han http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1248-5634

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by The Morris and Mayer Kaplan Family Foundation [grant number 6140] and an anonymous foundation grant.