Correlates of adjustment to university life among students

The present thesis investigated correlates of psychosocial and academic adjustment to University life among students. Five cross-sectional and one longitudinal study were undertaken. During the first 3 studies the focus of interest was both on home and non-home students. During the latter three studies the focus shifted to first year home students only. Data was collected by means of a number of self-report questionnaires consisting mainly of a number of standardised and widely used personality, social support and wellbeing/ adjustment measures. Results indicated that: (a) prior to arrival at University, non-home students, in comparison to home students, appear to be quite well equipped for the transition, in terms of social and personality attributes; however, they appear to lack substantial information regarding life in Scotland and academic standards of the host University, which might adversely affect their ability to cope with eventual academic demands; (b) Cultural Distance appears to affect non-home students' psychosocial adjustment during the early stage of the transition; (c) Non-home students experience not only the problems that home students report but also a number of additional difficulties which are closely related to cultural differences; (d) Correlates of Homesickness appear to differ for home and non-home students; (e) Personality (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Self-esteem, Social Inhibition and perceived Social Competence) and Dysfunctional Attitudes strongly influence the development of new satisfactory social networks, and the eventual psychosocial adjustment to University life; (f) Perceived Social Support is a significant predictor of psychosocial adjustment; (g) Academic performance does not appear to be related to any personality, social support or psychosocial adjustment variables; (h) Personality (Neuroticism, Extraversion), perceived Social Support and Loneliness appear to change significantly (in absolute terms) over the first academic year, but at the same time they remain relatively stable. Results are discussed in relation to the relevant literature, practical implications for students Counselling, and suggestions for further fruitful research

The aristotle approach to open hypermedia

Large-scale distributed hypermedia systems comprise a generation of powerful tools to meet the demands of the new information globalization era. The most promising of such systems have characteristics that allow for the easy adaptation both to an, actually, unpredictable technological evolution and to the constantly evolving information needs of users. Such systems are generally known as Open Hypermedia Systems (OHS). Recently, research effort has been focused on the formulation of a solid set of OHS standards (i.e., protocols, reference models and architectures) that would stem from a common understanding and thus, direct future implementations.Keywords: Open Hypermedia Systems, Hypermedia Modeling, Distributed Information System

An interpretative phenomenological analysis of stress and coping in first year undergraduates

In the UK, changes to the higher education system have increased the range of stressors experienced by students above those traditionally associated with the transition to university. Despite this, there is little qualitative research examining how students experience and cope with the adjustment to university. The experience of the transition was investigated in depth amongst 10 first year UK undergraduates. Purposive sampling resulted in a group with demographics similar to national statistics on UK undergraduates. Semi-structured interviews were used beginning with a content specific vignette to develop rapport. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was utilised to analyse the transcripts and quality checks were implemented to increase the validity of the analysis. Five main themes were identified: all the change, with subthemes of independent living, homesickness, differences between post-compulsory education and university; expectations of university; academic focus with subthemes of self-discipline, motivation, learning from experience; support network with subthemes of establishing a support network, support for coping with problems; and difficulties with subthemes of difficulties experienced with housemates, finances and employment, and academic difficulties. Students used a range of coping strategies. By identifying the role of positive psychological strengths such as optimism, hope, self-efficacy and self-control in coping with stress and facilitating positive adaptation, the study locates positive psychological strengths within a transactional understanding of stress and provides depth and relevance to their role in facilitating adjustment. Such qualitative research is rare in the positive psychology and stress literature. Suggestions for easing the transition are made

Individual differences in emotion elicitation in university examinations: A quasi-experimental study

In a quasi-experimental study, we examined the role of individual differences in the elicitation of emotional states in university examinations. Specifically, we assessed emotional states (a) before the first examination (baseline), (b) after receiving positive or negative feedback, and (c) then, again, before a series of subsequent examinations. We also measured effort in examination preparation and interest for studying. Data were collected during a university course that consisted of seven examinations in one semester; and 94 female students completed the BIS/BAS scales and SPSRQ (to measure sensitivity to punishment, SP, and reward, SR). Results revealed that higher BAS, but not SR, individuals experienced higher positive affect (PA) following positive feedback and they also showed higher levels of interest in studying. More generally, higher BIS and SP individuals experienced higher level of negative affect (NA) and they invested more effort in examination preparation; and both higher levels of SP and SR correlated positively with NA after receiving negative feedback. In addition, following negative feedback, higher BAS individuals experienced lower levels of PA, and higher SR individuals invested less effort in examination preparation. Results are discussed in terms of the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) of personality and directions for future research