Abstract
Despite extensive research establishing that stress affects problem-solving ability and coping, and leads to decreased learning, academic performance, and retention in nursing students, a paucity of research explores specific factors that could enhance these learning processes and outcomes. This explanatory correlational study examines the mediating effect of learned resourcefulness, the ability to regulate emotions and cognitions, on the relationships of stressors—both personal and academic—to academic performance in baccalaureate nursing students. Gadzella's Student-life Stress Inventory (SSI) and Rosenbaum's Self-Control Scale (SCS), a measure of learned resourcefulness, were administered to 53 junior level baccalaureate nursing students (92.5% female; 84.9% Caucasian; 9.4% African-American or Black) at a large urban university in North Carolina. High levels of both personal and academic stressors were revealed, but were not significant predictors of academic performance (p = .90). Age was a significant predictor of academic performance (p < .01) and both males and African-American/Black participants had higher learned resourcefulness scores on the SCS than females and Caucasians. Total stress scores on the Student-life Stress Inventory showed that male participants perceived less stress (N = 4, M = 116.5) than females (N = 41, M = 141). No significant relationships among learned resourcefulness, stressors, and academic performance were revealed from multiple regression analyses.
Sigma Membership
Alpha Xi
Type
Dissertation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Descriptive/Correlational
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Nursing Students, Academic Success, Resourcefulness
Advisor
David Ayers
Second Advisor
Eileen Kohlenberg
Third Advisor
John Willse
Fourth Advisor
Heidi Carlone
Degree
PhD
Degree Grantor
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Degree Year
2009
Recommended Citation
Goff, Anne-Marie, "Stressors, academic performance, and learned resourcefulness in baccalaureate nursing students" (2023). Dissertations. 1492.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/dissertations/1492
Rights Holder
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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
None: Degree-based Submission
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2023-11-28
Full Text of Presentation
wf_yes
Description
This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3387593; ProQuest document ID: 304964919. The author still retains copyright.