The Contribution of Learning and Mental Health Variables in First-Year Students' Profiles

Fotios S Milienos; Christos Rentzios; Leen Catrysse; David Gijbels; Sofia Mastrokoukou; Claudio Longobardi; Evangelia Karagiannopoulou

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.627118

The Contribution of Learning and Mental Health Variables in First-Year Students' Profiles

Front Psychol. 2021 Apr 21:12:627118. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.627118. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Fotios S Milienos¹, Christos Rentzios², Leen Catrysse³, David Gijbels³, Sofia Mastrokoukou⁴, Claudio Longobardi⁵, Evangelia Karagiannopoulou²

Affiliations

¹ Panteion University, Athens, Greece.
² University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
³ University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
⁴ University of Milano Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
⁵ University of Turin, Turin, Italy.

Abstract

International studies focus on the successful transition into higher education, which is considered crucial for both the students and the educational institution in the context of students' learning and adjustment in higher education. The aim of the current study was to identify student profiles that include cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational aspects of learning, but also aspects of resilience, emotion dysregulation, and anxiety. The sample consists of 316 Greek undergraduate students (18.7% males and 81.3% females). The results showed four different (meta)-cognitive-emotional learner profiles: the emotionally stable and highly adaptive learner; the emotionally dysregulated and at risk learner; the emotionally dysregulated and highly adaptive learner; the emotionally stable and at risk learner. Emotionally dysregulated and at risk learner has a lower GPA than the emotional stable and highly adaptive learner, the emotionally dysregulated and highly adaptive learner and the emotionally stable and at risk learner.

Keywords: GPA; achievement; higher education; self-regulation; student mental health.