La influencia del autoconcepto en el rendimiento académico en estudiantes universitarios

ABSTRACTThere are some researches that confirm the positive relationship between self-concept and academic achievement, usually of the academic self‐concept dimension and almost always in non‐university students. In this work we were looking for confirming the influence of self-concept in the academic achievement of the university students. In order to do it we worked with a sample of 1298 students from the three universities located in the city of Valencia (Spain): the University of Valencia, the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Catholic University of Valencia. The first two were public universities and the third one was private. We assessed the self‐concept by means of the AF5 questionnaire, which gives scores of five types of self-concept: academic/labour, emotional, family self‐concept, physical and social. We also took data from the academic achievement of university students by using the mean score of grades of five compulsory subjects of the academic year in which the research was conducted. From these scores we carried out correlations between self‐concept scores and grades, and also linear multiple regression analysis that showed a moderate relationship between three of the five types of self-concept that assesses the questionnaire (academic, physical and family self‐concept) and academic achievement. We also conducted hierarchical cluster analysis (k-means) with self-concept scores, finding three groups of students, one of them with a good profile of self-concept and the other two with a weaker profile. The first one had better grades, although di‐ fferences between the three groups were not significant in ANOVA. These results help us to realize the importance of supporting, as teachers, the development of a good self‐concept in our university students. Additionally, they complement the results of other studies that have examined other constructs and its impact on the academic achievement of university students.RESUMEN Existen algunas investigaciones que confirman la relación positiva existente entre autoconcepto y rendimiento académico, generalmente de la dimensión autoconcepto académico y casi siempre en estudiantes no universitarios. En este trabajo se busca confirmar la influencia del autoconcepto en el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes universitarios. Para ello trabajamos con una muestra de 1298 estudiantes de las tres universidades de la ciudad de Valencia (España): Universidad de Valencia, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia y Universidad Católica de Valencia. Las dos primeras eran universidades públicas y la tercera lo era privada. Evaluamos el autoconcepto mediante el cuestionario AF5, que permite obtener puntuaciones de cinco tipos de autoconcepto: académico/laboral, emocional, familiar, físico y social. También tomamos datos del rendimiento obteniendo la media de cinco asignaturas troncales y obligatorias del curso en que se realizó la investigación. A partir de estas puntuaciones llevamos a cabo correlaciones entre puntuaciones de autoconcepto y calificaciones, y también análisis de regresión lineal que reflejaron una relación moderada entre tres de los cinco tipos de autoconcepto que evalúa el cuestionario (académico, familiar y físico) y el rendimiento. También realizamos análisis jerárquico de conglomerados (k‐medias) con las puntuaciones de autoconcepto, encontrando tres grupos de estudiantes, uno con buen perfil de autoconcepto y dos con peor perfil. El grupo con buen perfil tenía mejores calificaciones, aunque las diferencias existentes entre los tres grupos no llegaron a ser significativas en el ANOVA realizado. Estos resultados ayudan a tomar conciencia de la importancia de apoyar, como profesores, el desarrollo de un buen autoconcepto en nuestros estudiantes universitarios. Además complementan los resultados de otras investigaciones que han analizado otros constructos y su incidencia en el rendimiento de estos estudiantesABSTRACT There are some researches that confirm the positive relationship between self-concept and academic achievement, usually of the academic self‐concept dimension and almost always in non‐university students. In this work we were looking for confirming the influence of self-concept in the academic achievement of the university students. In order to do it we worked with a sample of 1298 students from the three universities located in the city of Valencia (Spain): the University of Valencia, the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Catholic University of Valencia. The first two were public universities and the third one was private. We assessed the self‐concept by means of the AF5 questionnaire, which gives scores of five types of self-concept: academic/labour, emotional, family self‐concept, physical and social. We also took data from the academic achievement of university students by using the mean score of grades of five compulsory subjects of the academic year in which the research was conducted. From these scores we carried out correlations between self‐concept scores and grades, and also linear multiple regression analysis that showed a moderate relationship between three of the five types of self-concept that assesses the questionnaire (academic, physical and family self‐concept) and academic achievement. We also conducted hierarchical cluster analysis (k-means) with self-concept scores, finding three groups of students, one of them with a good profile of self-concept and the other two with a weaker profile. The first one had better grades, although di‐ fferences between the three groups were not significant in ANOVA. These results help us to realize the importance of supporting, as teachers, the development of a good self‐concept in our university students. Additionally, they complement the results of other studies that have examined other constructs and its impact on the academic achievement of university students