Profiles of academic stress, evaluation anxiety and resilience: A longitudinal analysis of university dropout intention

Authors

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.666761
Keywords: dropout, Academic stress, test anxiety, resilience, longitudinal

Supporting Agencies

  • Programa Severo Ochoa [Ref.: BP21-049]
  • Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación [Ref.: PID2022-141290NB-100]
  • European Union of behalf of the Principado de Asturias” [Ref. GRUPIN ID202400713]

Abstract

University dropout is a global problem that is under-researched, despite an increasing number of studies. Most of these studies have adopted a cross-sectional approach, which limits the understanding of the dynamic processes leading to dropout. The present study aims to analyse how university students' psychological profiles, characterised by levels of academic stress, evaluation anxiety and resilience, change over three academic semesters and to examine the relationship between these profiles and intention to drop out of university. A longitudinal sample of 307 students was studied and latent transition analyses were conducted. The analysis identified four latent profiles: 'vulnerable', 'restless', 'balanced' and 'resilient'. The first two profiles had higher rates of intention to drop out and were more stable over time than the other two. Each profile is described and the influence of the university context on the development of resilience, academic stress and evaluation anxiety is discussed.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Metrics
Views/Downloads
  • Abstract
    27
  • pdf
    24
  • pdf (Español (España))
    24
  • xml
    1

References

Abbas, Q., Latif, I., Munner, M., Khan, M. U., & Baig, K. B. (2023). Distress tolerance, anxiety-related symptoms, stress, and depression among drop-out and non-dropout university students: A mediation analysis. Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 73(4), 882-885. https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA.6557

Alammar, M. A., Ram, D., Albarragi, K. N., & Alshahrani, A. S. (2022). The levels of cognitive flexibility and cognitive resilience and their relation-ships with academic performance in college students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Current Psychiatry Research and Reviews, 18(3), 196-204. https://doi.org/10.2174/2666082218666220629092457

Baalmann, T. (2024). Health-related quality of life, success probability and stu-dents’ dropout intentions: Evidence from a German longitudinal study. Research in Higher Education, 65, 153-180. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-023-09738-7

Bargmann, C., Thiele, L., & Kauffeld, S. (2022). Motivation matters: Predict-ing students' career decidedness and intention to drop out after the first year in higher education. Higher Education, 83(4), 845-861. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00707-6

Bäulke, L., Grunschel, C., & Dresel, M. (2022). Student dropout at university: A phase-orientated view on quitting studies and changing majors. Euro-pean Journal of Psychology of Education, 37(3), 853-876. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-021-00557-x

Bean, J. P., & Eaton, S. (2001). The psychology underling successful retention practices. Journal College Student Retention, 3(1), 73. https://doi.org/10.2190/6R55-4B30-28XG-L8U0

Bernardo, A. B., Esteban, M., Cervero, A., Tuero, E., & Herrero, F. J. (2022). Validation of the Early University Dropout Intentions Questionnaire (EUDIQ-R). Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 22(10), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.33423/jhetp.v22i10

Caballero-Domínguez, C., Gallo-Barrera. Y., & Suárez-Colorado, Y. (2020). Some mental health variables associated with the propensity to the aban-donment of the university studies. Psychologia, 12(2), 37-46. https://doi.org/10.21500/19002386.3466

Cabanach, R. G., Souto-Gestal, A., & Franco, V. (2016). Stressor Academic Scale for the evaluation of academic stressors in undergraduates. Revista Iberoamericana de Psicología y Salud, 7(2), 41-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rips.2016.05.001

Cadariu, I. E., & Rad, D. (2023). Predictors of Romanian psychology stu-dents’ intention to successfully complete their courses-a process-based psychology theory approach. Behavioral Sciences, 13(7), Article 549. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13070549

Campos-Muñoz, E., Blanco, E., & Bernardo, A. B. (2024). Mental health and university dropout intention: The moderating role of adjustment. Revista de Estudios e Investigación en Psicología y Educación, 11(2), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.17979/reipe.2024.11.2.11109

Chávez, T., Cuadros, M., López, A., Montoya, M., Requena, N., & Talavera, Y. (2019). Psychometric analysis of the Scale of Academic Stressors (ECEA), in students of the Catholic University of Santa Maria. Avances en Psicología, 27(1), 73-82. https://doi.org/10.33539/avpsicol.2019v27n1.1467

Cheung, J. R., Lietz, C. A., Carpenter, B. M., Sitz, E., & Lietz, B. C. (2021). Cultivating resilience in college students with a foster care background. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 15(2), 182-202. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2019.1679694

Chiarino, N., Rodríguez-Enríquez, C., Curione, K., Machado, A., Bonilla, M., Aspirot, L., Garófalo, L., & Olveira, B. (2024). Student dropout and per-sistence in universities in Latin America and the Caribbean: A mixed sys-tematic review. Revista Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, 24(2), 1-37. https://doi.org/10.15517/aie.v24i2.57306

Cobo-Rendón, R., López-Angulo, Y., Pérez-Villalobos, M. V., & Díaz-Mujica, A. (2020). Perceived social support and its effects on changes in the affective and eudaimonic well-being of Chilean university students. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 590513. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.590513

Collins, L. M., & Lanza, S. T. (2009). Latent class and latent transition analysis: With applications in the social, behavioral, and health sciences (1.ª ed.). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470567333

Connor, K. M., & Davidson, J. R. T. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety, 18, 76-82. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.10113

Constante-Amores, A., Florenciano-Martínez, E., Navarro-Asencio, E., & Fernández-Mellizo, M. (2021). Factors associated with university drop-out. Educación XX1, 24(1), 17-44. https://doi.org/10.5944/educXX1.26889

Coronado-Hijón, A. (2017). Academic resilience: A transcultural perspective. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 237, 594-598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2017.02.013

Crisan, C., Albulescu, I., & Copaci, I. (2014). The relationship between test anxiety and perceived teaching style. Implications and consequences on performance self-evaluation. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 142, 668-672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.07.683

Cummins, R. (2010). Subjective wellbeing, homeostatically protected mood and depression: A synthesis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-009-9167-0

Deng, Y. W., Cherian, J., Kahn, N. U., Kumari, K., Sial, M. S., Comite, U., Gavurova, B., & Popp, J. (2022). Family and academic stress and their impact on students´ depression level and academic performance. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, Article 869337. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.869337

Durso, S. O., Afonso, L. E., & Beltamn, S. (2021). Resilience in higher educa-tion: A conceptual model and its empirical analysis. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 29, 198-228. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.29.6054

Frías-Navarro, D., Pascual-Soles, M., Broseta-Aguilar, E., Monterde-i-Bort, H., Soriano-Pastor, J., Fornés-Vives, J., Fuentes-Durán, M., García-Pérez, F., Dolz-Serra, L., & D´Ocón-Giménez, A. (2020). Escala Breve de Ansiedad ante la Evaluación Académica (EBAEA-3) [Brief Scale of Academic Eva-luation Anxiety (EBAEA-3)]. Revista de la Facultad de Educación de Albacete, 35(1), 175-190.

Fullerton, D., Zhang, L., & Kleitman, S. (2021). An integrative process model of resilience in an academic context: Resilience resources, coping strate-gies, and positive adaptation. PLoS One, 16(2), Article e0246000. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246000

Gómez, A. K., Collazos, J. F., Prieto, J. L., Pinzón, P. V., González, G. I., Castaño, V. E., & Cuellar, R. A. (2024). Prolonged chronic academic stress and its relationship with cytokine dysregulation in health science students. Stress and Health, 40(3), Article 3363. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3363

Hadjar, A., Haas, C., & Gewinner, I. (2022). Refining the Spady–Tinto ap-proach: The roles of individual characteristics and institutional support in students’ higher education dropout intentions in Luxembourg. European Journal of Higher Education, 13(4), 409-428. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2022.2056494

Hanson, M. (2024). College dropout rates. Education Data Initiative. https://educationdata.org/college-dropout-rates

Jehi, T., Mulvey, M., Shulgan, E., Burke, E., Dean, M., Betancourt, J., Khan, R., Majzoub, N., Halawani, R., Beeson, L., & Zeman, C. (2024). Anxiety, depression, stress, and test anxiety are inversely associated with academic performance among undergraduate students post-Covid-19 confinement. American Journal of Health Education, 55(2), 89-99. https://doi.org/10.1080/19325037.2023.2296943

Jiang, J. W., Kwok, S., & C. L., & Deng, X. (2024). Effects of social mistreat-ment, academic alienation, and developmental challenge on university students’ well-being through coping strategies: A longitudinal study. Brit-ish Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(2), 464-479. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12730

Kartol, A., Üztemur, S., Griffiths, M. D., & Sahin, D. (2024). Exploring the interplay of emotional intelligence, psychological resilience, perceived stress, and life satisfaction: A cross-sectional study in the Turkish con-text. BMC Psychology, 12(1), Article 362. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01860-0

Kim, S., & Eun, P. J. (2021). The effect of academic stress of college student’s dropout intention: Mediating effect of academic procrastination behav-ior. Journal of Convergence for Information Technology, 11(2), 138-145. https://doi.org/10.22156/CS4SMB.2021.11.02.138

Kökçam, B., Arslan, C., & Tras, Z. (2022). Do psychological resilience and emotional intelligence vary among stress profiles in university students? A latent profile analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 28, 788506. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.788506

Koppenborg, K., Garnefski, N., Kraaij, V., & Ly, V. (2022). Academic stress, mindfulness-rated skills and mental health in international university stu-dents. Journal of American College Health, 72(3), 787-795. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2022.2057193

Lanza, S. T., & Cooper, B. R. (2016). Latent class analysis for developmental research. Child Development Perspectives, 10(1), 59-64. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12163

León, A., González, S., González Arratia, N., & Barcelata, B. E. (2019). Stress, self-efficacy, academic achievement, and resilience in emerging adults. Elec-tronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 17(1), 129-148. https://doi.org/10.25115/ejrep.v17i47.2226

León, X. P., Mendoza, M. M., & Gilar, R. (2021). Classroom climate and aca-demic performance: notes around the university context. Revista Venezola-na de Gerencia, 26(5), 140-156. https://doi.org/10.52080/rvgluz.26.e5.10

Lindner, C., Zitzmann, S., Klusmann, U., & Zimmermann, F. (2023). From procrastination to frustration-How delaying tasks can affect study satis-faction and dropout intentions over the course of university studies. Learning and Individual Differences, 108, Article 102373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2023.102373

Lomberg, E. N., & Jordaan, J. (2024). Emotional intelligence, adjustment, media and technology usage, and gender as predictors of psychological well-being amongst undergraduate university students. Sage Open, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241256539

Londoño, J., Vernaza-Pinzón, P., Dueñas-Cuellar, R. A., Niño-Castaño, V. E., & Rivera-Gómez, A. (2024). Academic stress in university students: The silent epidemic in a health sciences faculty. Salud UIS, 56, Article 24010. https://doi.org/10.18273/saluduis.56.e:24010

Lotz, C., Sparfeldt, J. R., & Ringeisen, T. (2021). A latent growth curve analy-sis of state test anxiety in successive days of before and after an examina-tion and in relations to trait test anxiety. Learning and Individual Differences, 92, Article 102080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2021.102080

Maluenda-Albornoz, J., Infante-Villagrán, V., Galve-González, C., Flores-Oyarzo, G., & Berríos-Riquelme, J. (2021). Early and dynamic socio-academic variables related to dropout intention: A predictive model made during the pandemic. Sustainability, 14(2), Article 831. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020831

Mayya, S. S., Martis, M., Mayya, A., Iyer, V. L., & Ramesh, A. (2022). Academic stress among pre-university students of the commerce stream: A study in Karnataka. Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities, 30(2), 605-621. https://doi.org/10.47836/pjssh.30.2.10

Ministerio de Universidades. (2024). Indicadores de rendimiento académico y transi-ción a Máster de estudiantes de Grado. https://bit.ly/3XYtqkZ

Möcklinghoff, S., Rapoport, O., Heckel, C., Messerschmidt-Grandi, C., & Ringeisen, T. (2021). Latent profiles of test anxiety: Considering its multi-faceted structure. International Journal of Educational Research, 110, Article 101882. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2021.101882

Muñoz, F. J. (2004). El estrés académico: Problemas y soluciones desde una perspectiva psicosocial [Academic stress: Problems and solutions from a psychosocial perspective]. Universidad de Huelva.

Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2017). MPlus (Versión 8.6) [Software]. Muthén & Muthén.

Nazir, M. A., Izhar, F., Talal, A., Sohail, Z. B., Majeed, A., & Almas, K. (2021). A quantitative study of test anxiety and its influencing factors among medical and dental students. Journal of Taibah University Medical Sci-ences, 16(2), 253-259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2020.12.014

Niño, A. L., Ramírez, J. M., Chávez, J. A., & Santos, P. Y. (2024). Resilience and academic performance in Peruvian psychology university students. Revista Electrónica Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 27(2), 173-183. https://doi.org/10.6018/reifop.583691

Notario-Pacheco, B., Solera-Martínez, M., Serrano-Parra, M. D., Bartolomé-Gutiérrez, R., García-Campayo, J., & Martínez-Vizcaíno, V. (2011). Relia-bility and validity of the Spanish version of the 10-item

Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (10-item CD-RISC) in young adults. Health Qual Life Outcomes, 9, Article 63. https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7525-9-63

OECD. (2022). Education at a glance 2022: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/3197152b-en

Omar, M., Hazimah, A., Aminullah, F., Shudel, S., Ibrahim, F., Aziz, S., Is-mail, F. D., & Rahman, A. (2019). Perceived academic stress among stu-dents in University Teknologi Malasya. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 470, 115-124.

Panadero, E., Fraile, J., & García, D. (2022). Transition to higher education and assessment: A one-year longitudinal study. Educación XX1, 25(2), 15-37. https://doi.org/10.5944/educxx1.29870

Peña-Vázquez, R., González, O., Álvarez-Pérez, P. R., & López-Aguilar, D. (2023). Building the profile of students with the intention of dropping out of university studies. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 81(285), 291-315. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP81-2-2023-03

Pertegal-Felices, M. L., Valdivieso-Salazar, D. A., Espin-León, A., & Jimeno-Morenilla, A. (2022). Resilience and academic dropout in Ecuadorian uni-versity students during Covid-19. Sustainability, 14(13), Article 8066. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138066

R Core Team. (2023). R: A language and environment for statistical computing (Ver-sion 4.3.2) [Software]. R Foundation for Statistical Computing.

Respondek, L., Seufert, T., Hamm, J. M., & Nett, E. R. (2020). Linking chang-es in perceived academic control to university dropout and university grades: A longitudinal approach. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(5), 987-1002. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000388

Restrepo, J. E., Bedoya Cardona, E. Y., Cuartas Montoya, G. P., Cassaretto Bardales, M. M., & Vilela Alemán, Y. P. (2023). Estrés académico y adap-tación a la vida universitaria: mediación de la regulación cognitivo-emocional y el apoyo social. Anales de Psicología / Annals of Psychology, 39(1), 62-71. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.472201

Rodríguez-Pineda, M., & Zamora-Araya, J. A. (2021). College student drop-out: Cohort study about possible causes. Uniciencia, 35(1), 19-37. https://doi.org/10.15359/ru.35-1.2

Scheunemann, A., Schnettler, T., Bobe, J., Fries, S., & Grunschel, C. (2022). A longitudinal analysis of the reciprocal relationship between academic pro-crastination, study satisfaction, and dropout intentions in higher educa-tion. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 37, 1141-1164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-021-00571-z

Scrucca, L., Fraley, C., Murphy, T. B., & Raftery, A. E. (2023). Model-bases clus-tering, classification, and density estimation using mclust in R (1.ª ed.). CRC Press.

Shin, J., Lee, H. J., Park, H., Hong, Y. T., Song, T. K., Yoon, D. U., & Oh, S. (2023). Perfectionism, test anxiety, and neuroticism determine high aca-demic performance: A cross-sectional study. BMC Psychology, 11(1), Article 410. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01369-y

Sommer, K., Odenwald, M., & Fehm, L. (2022). Stability and prediction of test anxiety in university students. Zeitschrift fur Klinisch Psychologie und Psy-chotherapie, 51(2), 87-95. https://doi.org/10.1026/1616-3443/a000660

Stankovska, G., Dimitrovski, D., Angelkoska, S., Ibraimi, Z., & Uka, V. (2018). Emotional intelligence, test anxiety and academic stress among university students. Education in Modern Society, 16, 157-164.

Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures for student attrition. University of Chicago Press.

Trigueros, R., Padilla, A., Aguilar-Parra, J. M., Rocamora, P., Morales-Gázquez, M. J., & López-Liria, R. (2020). The influence of emotional intelligence on resilience, test anxiety, academic stress and the mediterranean diet. A study with university students. International Journal of Environmental Re-search and Public Health, 17(6), Article 2071. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062071

Tuero, E., Bernardo, A. B., Blanco, E., & Vázquez-Merino, D. (2024). Univer-sity dropout and transfer intention, what is the influence of resilience and social adaptation on the two types of dropouts? Journal of College Student Retention, 28(2), 411-427.. https://doi.org/10.1177/15210251241268812

Véliz-Palomino J. C., & Ortega A. M. (2023) Dropout intentions in Higher Education: Systematic literature review. Journal on Efficiency and Responsibil-ity in Education and Science, 16(2), 149-158. https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2023.160206

Von der Embse, N., Jester, D., Roy, D., & Post, J. (2018). Test anxiety effects, predictors, and correlates: A 30-year meta-analytic review. Journal of Affec-tive Disorders, 227, 483-493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.11.048

Wickham, H., Averick, M., Bryan, J., Chang, W., McGowan. L., François, R., Grolemund, G., Hayes, A., Henry, L., Hester, J., Kunh, M., Pedersen, T., Miller, E., Bache, S., Müller, K., Ooms, J., Robinson, D., Seidel, D., Spi-nu, V., … Yutani, H. (2019). Welcome to the tidyverse. Journal of Open Software, 4(43), Article 1686. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01686

Worku, B. N., & Gita, D. U. (2024). Students' academic culture: The mediating role of academic commitment in the relationship between academic resili-ence and academic performance of university students. Cogent Education, 11(1), Article 2377004. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2377004

Young, Y., & Woo, K. S. (2021). The influence of academic stress of college students majoring in tax & accounting department on dropout intention: Focusing on the moderating effects of academic self-efficacy. Tax Account-ing Research, 65, 193-222. https://doi.org/10.35349/tar.2020..65.009

Yun, C. Y., Heekyung, K., & Hee, K. S. (2021). Longitudinal transition and its predictors of latent classes of college students’ academic achievement. Ko-rean Journal of Educational Research, 59(6), 129-156.

Zhang, G., Tu, X., Ding, N., Lau, J. T., Wang, P., & Wang, X. (2021). Pro-spective relationships between college adjustment, self-esteem, and men-tal health status among Chinese undergraduates. Journal of American College Health, 71(3), 844-850. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1909036

Zhu, X. H., Haegele, J. A., Liu, H. R., & Yu, F. L. (2021). Academic stress, physical activity, sleep, and mental health among Chinese adolescents. In-ternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(14), Article 7257. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147257

Published
05-08-2026
How to Cite
Blanco, E., Tuero Herrero, E., García Fernández, J., & Bernardo Gutierrez, A. B. (2026). Profiles of academic stress, evaluation anxiety and resilience: A longitudinal analysis of university dropout intention. Anales De Psicología Annals of Psychology, 42(3), e31. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.666761