Examining the Relationship Between Psychological Well-being & Academic Performance Among First-year College Students in a US Mid-south University
Abstract
This study examined the relationship between psychological well-being and college students. In addition, I looked at how COVID-19 impacted their psychological well-being. I used Ryff and Keyes’ (1995) 18-item Scale of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB-18) to measure participants' psychological well-being. Other demographic information such as race, gender, first-generation college student status, college readiness, and Pell Grant eligibility were collected from the WKU’s Institutes of Research.
Data were analyzed using multiple regressions that controlled for the effects of ethnicity, gender, first-generation status, and socioeconomic status. Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 on psychological well-being was evaluated and reported. In this dataset, the internal consistency of the SPWB-18 overall scale was .77; however, the reliabilities of the individual subscales were all below .60. Results indicated subscales of self-acceptance, purpose in life, personal growth and autonomy predicted GPA with statistical significance, but these results should be considered cautiously given the low internal consistency of these subscales. First-generation students' overall psychological well-being scores and their self-acceptance sub scores both positively predicted GPA scores more strongly than these scores for other students. Half of the students felt that COVID-19 did impact their psychological well-being to some extent, almost a third were neutral, and the remainder did not believe it had impact.