First year university: exploring the role of emotional intelligence and resiliency on student subjective well-being

Abstract

Students entering university or college from high school face a variety of stressors. Furthermore, the highest rate of post-secondary dropout is within first year university (Shaienks et al., 2008). Past studies have concluded that while cognitive factors play a role in academic success, they do not have great predictive validity of student adjustment and retention in post-secondary education. Thus, this study examined the role of noncognitive factors in first year university students. First year university students enrolled in first and second semesters completed questionnaires measuring emotional intelligence (EI), aspects ofresiliency (i.e., sense of mastery), and subjective well-being. Using a cross-sectional design, it was found that EI was significantly different between students in first semester and second semester while resiliency and subjective well-being revealed no significant differences. In addition, multiple regression analyses suggest that sense of mastery may be a stronger predictor than EI in predicting first year student subjective well-being.