Role of Self Efficacy as a Moderator in the Relationship of Psychological Distress, Psychosocial Adjustment and Educational Adjustment among University Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52053/jpap.v2i2.69Keywords:
Academic Adjustment, Psychological Distress, Psychological Adjustment, Self Efficacy, Social Adjustment, University StudentsAbstract
Psychological distress is a well-known term that has serious effect on the individual’s psychological and physical health. Now-a-days, it has become a topic of great concern for the psychosocial and educational adjustment amongst university students. The present study investigated the relationship between psychological distress, psychosocial adjustment and educational adjustment among university students. It also explored the moderating impact of self-efficacy on these variables. Data were collected from 304 university students (male=151, female=153). Kessler k10 Scale, General Self-efficacy Scale, Brief Adjustment Scale, Academic Adjustment Scale and Social Adjustment Scale were used to measure the study variables. Results of the current study revealed the inverse relationship between psychological distress, psychosocial and educational adjustment. Findings of regression analysis revealed that self-efficacy moderated the relationship between psychological distress, psychosocial adjustment and educational adjustment. Moreover, female students experienced more psychological distress as compared to male students. Results were discussed and limitations, suggestions and implications were presented for future research.
References
Adewuya, A. O., Ola, B. A., & Afolabi, O. O. (2006). Validity of the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) as a screening tool for depression amongst Nigerian university students. Journal of affective disorders, 96(1-2), 89-93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2006.05.021
Al Saadi, T., Zaher Addeen, S., Turk, T., Abbas, F., & Alkhatib, M. (2017). Psychological distress among medical students in conflicts: a cross-sectional study from Syria. Bio Medical Central Medical Education, 17(1), 173. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-017-1012-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-017-1012-2
Anderson, D. M., Keith, J., & Novak, P. D. (2002). Mosby’s medical dictionary (6th ed). A harcourt health science company.
Baker, R. W., & Siryk, B. (1984). Measuring adjustment to college. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31(2), 179–189. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.31.2.179 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.31.2.179
Baker, R. W., & Siryk, B. (1989). Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire Manual. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.
Baker, R. W. & Siryk, B. (1999). SACQ: Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire Manual. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.
Bayram, N., & Bilgel, N. (2008). The prevalence and socio-demographic correlations of depression, anxiety and stress among a group of university students. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 43(8), 667-672. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0345-x
Bhagat, P. (2017). Comparative study of adjustment among secondary school boys and girls. International Journal of Applied Research, 2(7), 91-95.
Brady-Amoon, P., & Fuertes, J. N. (2011). Self-Efficacy, Self-Rated Abilities, Adjustment, and Academic Performance. Journal of Counseling & Development, 89(4), 431–438. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6676. 2011.tb02840.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2011.tb02840.x
Chen, X., Rubin, K. H., & Li, D. (1997). Relation between academic achievement and social adjustment: Evidence from Chinese children. Developmental Psychology, 33(3), 518– 525. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.33.3.518
Cruz, R. A., Peterson, A. P., Fagan, C., Black, W., & Cooper, L. (2019). Evaluation of the Brief Adjustment Scale–6 (BASE-6): A measure of general psychological adjustment for measurement-based care. Psychological Services. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ser0000366 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000366
del Mar Ferradás, M., Freire, C., Rodríguez, S., & Piñeiro, I. (2018). Self-handicapping and self-esteem profiles and their relation to achievement goals. Annales of Psychology, 34(3), 545-554. DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.34.3.319781
Dishion, T. J. (1990). The family ecology of boys' peer relations in middle childhood. Child development, 61(3), 874-892. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02829.x
Eisenberg, D., Gollust, S. E., Golberstein, E., & Hefner, J. L. (2007). Prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality among university students. American journal of orthopsychiatry, 77(4), 534-542. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0002-9432.77.4.534
Elmotaleb, M.A. & Saha1of, S.K. (2013). The role of academic self-efficacy as a mediator variable between perceived academic climate and academic performance. Journal Education and Learning, 2(3). doi:10.5539/jel.v2n3p117 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/jel.v2n3p117
Green, K. D., Forehand, R., Beck, S. J., & Vosk, B. (1980). An assessment of the relationship among measures of children's social competence and children's academic achievement. Child development, 1149-1156. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1129556
Ishii, T., Tachikawa, H., Shiratori, Y., Hori, T., Aiba, M., Kuga, K., & Arai, T. (2018). What kinds of factors affect the academic outcomes of university students with mental disorders? A retrospective study based on medical records. Asian journal of psychiatry, 32, 67-72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2017.11.017
Jaisoorya, T. S., Reddy, Y. J., Nair, B. S., Rani, A., Menon, P. G., Revamma, M., ... & Thennarasu, K. (2017). Prevalence and correlates of obsessive-compulsive disorder and subthreshold obsessive-compulsive disorder among college students in Kerala, India. Indian journal of psychiatry, 59(1), 56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.204438
Kessler, R., & Mroczek, D. (1992). An update of the development of mental health screening scales for the us national health interview study [memo dated 12/22/92]. Ann Arbor(MI): Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
Kim, J. S., Kim, J., & Gelegjamts, D. (2020). Knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy towards palliative care among nurses in Mongolia: A cross-sectional descriptive study. Plos one, 15(7), e0236390. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236390
Knapstad, M., Sivertsen, B., Knudsen, A. K., Smith, O. R. F., Aarø, L. E., Lønning, K. J., & Skogen, J. C. (2021). Trends in self-reported psychological distress among college and university students from 2010 to 2018. Psychological medicine, 51(3), 470-478. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719003350
Knifsend, C. A. (2018). Intensity of activity involvement and psychosocial well-being among students. Active Learning in Higher Education, 146978741876032. doi:10.1177/1469787418760324 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787418760324
Li, A., & Gasser, M. B. (2005). Predicting Asian international students’ sociocultural adjustment: A test of two mediation models. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29(5), 561-576. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.06.003
Misra, R., Crist, M., & Burant, C. J. (2003). Relationships among life stress, social support, academic stressors, and reactions to stressors of international students in the United States. International Journal of Stress Management, 10(2), 137. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/1072-5245.10.2.137
Moksnes, U. K., Eilertsen, M. E. B., Ringdal, R., Bjørnsen, H. N., & Rannestad, T. (2019). Life satisfaction in association with self?efficacy and stressor experience in adolescents–self?efficacy as a potential moderator. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 33(1), 222-230. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.12624
Muzaffar, N. N. (2017). Role of family system, positive emotions and resilience in social adjustment among Pakistani adolescents. Journal of Educational, Health and Community Psychology, 6(2), 46-58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12928/jehcp.v6i2.6944
Nedregård, T., & Olsen, R. (2014). Studentenes helse-og trivselsundersøkelse: SHoT 2010. Rapport. issn, 1504-7741.
Pleitz, J. D., MacDougall, A. E., Terry, R. A., Buckley, M. R., & Campbell, N. J. (2015). Great Expectations: Examining the Discrepancy Between Expectations and Experiences on College Student Retention. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 17(1), 88–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025115571252 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025115571252
Porru, F., Robroek, S. J., Bültmann, U., Portoghese, I., Campagna, M., & Burdorf, A. (2021). Mental health among university students: The associations of effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment with psychological distress. Journal of Affective Disorders, 282, 953-961. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.12.183
Poyrazli, S. (2001). The role of assertiveness, academic experiences, and academic self-efficacy on psychosocial adjustment of graduate international students. University of Houston.
Pugh, K., Zhao, Y., Sheldon, S., & Byers, J. (2002). Conditions for classroom technology innovations. Teachers’ college record, 104(3), 482-515. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9620.00170
Russell, R. K., & Petrie, T. A. (1992). Academic adjustment of college students: Assessment and counseling. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Handbook of counseling psychology, 485–511.
Samuel, R., & Burger, K. (2020). Negative life events, self-efficacy, and social support: Risk and protective factors for school dropout intentions and dropout. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(5), 973–986. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000406
Schwarzer, R. (1992). Self-efficacy in the adoption and maintenance of health behaviors: Theoretical approaches and a new model. In R. Schwarzer (Ed.), Self-efficacy: Thought control of action (pp. 217–243). Hemisphere Publishing Corp.
Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized Self Efficacy Scale. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnton, Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35-37). Windsor, UK: NFER-NELSON. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/t00393-000
Sharp, J., & Theiler, S. (2018). A review of psychological distress among university students: Pervasiveness, implications and potential points of interventions. International journal for The Advancement of counselling, 40(8), 193-212. Doi: 10.1007/s10447-018-9321-7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-018-9321-7
Shea, M., & Christine, J. Y. (2008). Asian American student’s cultural values, stigma, and self-Construal: Correlates of attitude towards professional help seeking. Journal of mental health Counselling, 30(2) 157-172. Doi: 10.17744/m3hc. 302.g662g5126r1352198. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17744/mehc.30.2.g662g5l2r1352198
Shkullaku, R. (2013). The relationship between self efficacy and academic performance in the Context of gender among Albanian students. European academic research, 1(4), 467-478.
Stallman, H. M. (2010). Psychological distress in university students: A comparison with general population data. Australian Psychologist, 45(4), 249-257. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00050067.2010.482109
Sümer, S., Poyrazli, S., & Grahame, K. (2008). Predictors of depression and anxiety among international students. Journal of Counseling & Development, 86(4), 429-437. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6678.2008.tb00531.x
Tomoda, A., Mori, K., Kimura, M., Takahashi, T., & Kitamura, T. (2000). One?year prevalence and incidence of depression among first?year university students in Japan: A preliminary study. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 54(5), 583-588. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1819.2000.00757.x
Valas, H. (2001). Learned helplessness and psychosocial adjustment: effects of age, gender and Academic achievement. Journal of educational research, 45(1), 71-90. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00313830020042689
Van Rooij, E. C. M., Jansen, E. P. W. A., & van de Grift, W. J. C. M. (2017). First-year university students’ academic success: the importance of academic adjustment. European Journal of Psychology of Education. doi:10.1007/s10212-017-0347-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-017-0347-8
Wang, Q., Liu, H., Ren, Z., Xiong, W., He, M., Fan, X., ... & Zhang, X. (2020). Gender difference in the association of coping styles and social support with psychological distress among patients with end-stage renal disease. PeerJ, 8, e8713. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8713
Wheaton, B. (2007). The twain meets: distress, disorder and the continuing conundrum of categories. an interdisciplinary journal for the social study of health, illness and medicine, 11(3), 303-319. https://doi.org/10.117711363459307077545 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459307077545
Yusoff, Y. M. (2012). Self-efficacy, perceived social support, and psychological adjustment in international undergraduate students in a public higher education institution in Malaysia. Journal of Studies in International Education, 16(4), 353-371. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315311408914
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of Professional & Applied Psychology
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License (https://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-Commercial use, reproduction
and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the Journal website at (https://iprpk.com/ojs/index.php/jpap)