The Mediating Role of Perceived Instructor’s Emotional Support to Students’ Academic Resiliency and School Engagement

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-2231054/v2

Download PDF

Research Article

The Mediating Role of Perceived Instructor’s Emotional Support to Students’ Academic Resiliency and School Engagement

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2231054/v2

This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License

Version 2

posted

You are reading this older preprint version

Read the latest preprint version →

Academic resiliency is the ability of students to cope with and overcome setbacks and chronic difficulties, specifically in the school context. Previously conducted studies have discovered that academically resilient students tend to be more engaged in academics than their counterparts. Moreover, studies have also mentioned the importance of teachers’ emotional support to students’ engagement. Concerning this, the current study is focused on determining the mediating role of perceived teachers’ emotional support (TES) in the relationship between academic resiliency (ARS) and school engagement (ENG) of students in a Higher Education Institution context in Angeles City, Philippines. A sample of 910 students (58.9% male and 41.1% female) from different institutes completed self-report questionnaires concerning academic resilience, perceived teachers’ emotional support, and school engagement. Partial Least-Square Structural Equation Modelling using SmartPLS4 was used for the mediation analysis. The results revealed that (1) academic resilience positively influences school engagement, (2) academic resilience leverages perceived teachers’ emotional support, and (3) perceived teachers’ emotional support affects school engagement. Most importantly, it was found that perceived teachers’ emotional support partially mediates the relationship between students’ academic resilience and school engagement. Based on the findings, it was emphasized the importance of teachers’ emotional support in fostering resilience and engagement with college students. Lastly, findings were discussed by stressing the importance of fostering personal and contextual resources in the college to promote students’ well-being.

Educational Psychology

Academic resiliency

College students

Emotional support

Instructor

School Engagement

For the past years, studies concerning ‘resilience’ has earned popularity, especially in the academe context, because it was discovered to be linked to positive achievement and school-related adjustments (Dwiastuti et al., 2022; Rojas, 2015; Tamannaeifar & Shahmirzaei, 2019). Undeniably, students with a high level of resilience can successfully prevail over demanding and distressing academic-related conditions, maintain a high level of impetus, and gain triumphant feats despite various adversities (Rao & Krishnamurthy, 2018; Salvacion et al., 2018). The relationship between academic resiliency and school engagement was developed throughout the years, showing that both are strictly and positively associated (Martin et al., 2022; Versteeg et al., 2022). Relying on academic resilience as a personal resource, students tend to drive a higher keenness pursuing to study with increasing energy and devotion and are much more engaged than their peers. Despite the numerous shreds of evidence, it appears worth intensifying the contextual personal resource’s role, focusing on emotional forms, such as instructors’ emotional support to students. Based on the Theory of Self-Determination, perceived instructor emotional support denotes a student’s emotional connection with the instructor in the classroom. The instructor is interested and sensitive to the student’s needs and acknowledges them positively and enthusiastically (Yang et al., 2021). Howbeit, published scholarly works concerning the current inquiry are predominantly focused on the locus of primary and secondary schools. Undeniably, there is an empirical gap in published reports focusing on learners’ perceived instructor emotional support in the context of higher education, especially in the Philippine scholarship. Hence, conducting a similar study is highly advocated. With the need to conduct research, the present study investigates the interrelatedness between academic resilience and school engagement by scrutinizing the mediating effect of perceived instructor emotional support.

Academic resilience and school engagement

It is widely intellectualized that ‘resilience’ refers to someone’s capacity to adapt positively, adjust to challenges and overcome menacing events (Wu et al., 2020). Correspondingly, ‘academic resilience’ is demarcated as a student’s capacity to manage acute or chronic problems that are considered central disturbances in the educational process (Dwiastuti et al., 2022; Eva et al., 2021). Several scholars defined academic resiliency as the capacity to face academic challenges resulting in positive outcomes by students from high-risk backgrounds (Serrano Sarmiento et al., 2021; Ye et al., 2021). Likewise, other scholars delineated academic resilience as dealing with perilous circumstances in the educational system but still being able to perform exceptional academic feats (García-Crespo et al., 2021; Lohner & Aprea, 2021). Notwithstanding, academic resilience is highly associated with students who have experienced severe difficulties throughout their educational journey (Gartland et al., 2019). Highly resilient students engage themselves throughout the process. They do not easily relinquish on the overwhelming demands of the academe, therefore establishing this feature as a determinant of several positive outcomes such as high motivation and scholastic performance (Rao & Krishnamurthy, 2018), lower dropout intentions, positive gratification towards life (Bittmann, 2021).

On the one hand, school engagement is a multidimensional construct that involves cognitive, affective, and behavioral components (Benito Mundet et al., 2021). It encompasses three dimensions: vigor, dedication, and absorption (Jaya & Ariyanto, 2021). Vigor is characterized as high energy and mentally resilient, vivacious, and flexible even in the face of difficulties (Jindo et al., 2020; Sittar, 2020). Dedication refers to someone with a high sense of significance, gusto, and engrossment in one’s study (Listau et al., 2017; Teuber et al., 2021). Lastly, absorption is when a student is focused and immersed in an academic activity (Koob et al., 2021). Studies have been conducted vis-à-vis academic resilience and other factors as determinants of students’ school engagement (Ahmed et al., 2018; Mozammel et al., 2018). Additionally, the demand-resources model applied to the context of education posited that higher personal resources, such as academic resiliency, might foster academic goals and school engagement (Fiorilli et al., 2020; Robayo-Tamayo et al., 2020). Assuming academic resilience as a personal resource and precursor of educational engagement, the investigation is concentrated on expanding the association between the two constructs in a higher education context.

The mediating role of perceived teacher’s emotional support in the relationship between academic resilience and school engagement

College students spend most of their time inside a classroom, facing complex school demands and dealing with different kinds of pressure and expectations (Romano et al., 2021b). Taking into consideration the emotional burden related to the overwhelming school demands and the shreds of evidence, as mentioned earlier, students are significantly influenced by the support provided to them by the instructors emotionally in the school milieu (Yang et al. 2021). In a more in-depth explanation, instructor emotional support refers to the ability of an instructor to foster a positive relationship and climate with students, to culturally and sensitively respond to student needs, and to support peer interactions (Pakarinen et al., 2020). TES has three dimensions, according to Yang et al., (2022): positive climate (PC), teacher sensitivity (TS), and regard for adolescent perspective (RAP). Positive climate (PC) refers to how an instructor is keen on promoting positive interactions with their students, which can lead to an increased opportunity to demonstrate academic growth (Pangle 2022). Teacher sensitivity (TS) is when an instructor consistently monitors students for cues needing extra support or assistance (Kennedy, 2019). Lastly, adolescent perspective (RAP) can be understood as the degree to which instructors emphasize perspectives concerning flexibility, connections to the current life, support for autonomy and leadership, and meaningful peer interactions (Vattøy and Gamlem, 2019). Generally, these dimensions are crucial in promoting students’ learning motivation and engagement (Ruzek et al., 2016). Based on previous reports, positive school adjustments and high-performing students account for instructors who provide adequate emotional support more than their counterparts (Domitrovich et al., 2017; Frenzel et al., 2021; Konishi & Wong, 2018). In addition, previous studies have also displayed that academically resilient students who perceived a higher level of emotional support from their instructors relate to a positive learning atmosphere than those who are less resilient (Cassidy, 2015; Yilmaz Findik, 2016). Additionally, concerning long-term adjustments, published scholarly works have also discovered that instructor emotional support accounts for it for students who are academically resilient compared to their counterparts (Pitzer & Skinner, 2017; Rodríguez-Fernández et al., 2018). Interestingly, recent studies revealed that academic resilience and perceived instructor emotional support are positively associated with students’ engagement (Ahmed et al., 2018; Romano et al., 2021a). Therefore, this can be possibly hypothesized that instructor emotional support positively strengthens the relationship between academic resilience and school engagement.

Aims and hypotheses

The present investigation sought to examine academic resiliency vis-à-vis school engagement via perceived instructor emotional support. Thus, the researcher hypothesized that academic resilience is significantly related and has a positive effect to school engagement (H₁); academic resilience has a significant relationship and can positively affect perceived instructor’s emotional support (H₂); perceived instructor’s emotional support is positively related and leverages school engagement (H₃); and lastly, perceived instructor’s emotional support mediated the relationship between academic resilience and school engagement (H₄).

Participants, Sampling Technique, and Sample Size

The study's selected participants were college students from the 1st-4th year level currently enrolled for the 1st Semester, the Academic Year 2022-2023, at City College of Angeles, located in the city of Angeles, in the Philippines. The respondents for this study were identified by using Convenience sampling. It is also known as availability sampling, where the selection of the respondents is based on their availability (Frey, 2018). The said availability is usually in terms of geographical proximity but may also involve other types of accessibility, such as known contacts. Since the investigator is affiliated with the college, this sampling technique can be used, as mentioned earlier. To identify the total number of target samples for this study, Raosoft Sample Size Calculator was utilized. From the 5,000 total population of students, the recommended sample size is 357. Exceedingly, 910 students participated in the study, and all the responses were accepted for data analysis after the data cleaning.

Instruments

The gathering of data was performed via an online survey using Google forms. Also, three tools were adapted for this study. First, the 30-item Academic Resilience Scale, or the ARS-30 by Cassidy (2016), was used to measure students’ academic resilience based on specific cognitive-affective and behavioral responses to educational diversity. Responses are recorded on a 5-point Likert scale (1= “unlikely” to 5 = “likely”); an example of an item is “I would do my best to stop thinking negative thoughts.” In this particular instrument, a global scale was performed (i.e., summation of all the items after extraction). From the original study of Cassidy (2016), the Cronbach’s Alpha value is 0.90, and for this investigation, the value is 0.93, indicating high internal consistency.

Second, the Teacher’s Emotional Support Scale from the study of Romano et al. (2020) was adapted to measure students’ perceptions of their teachers’ emotional support. The scale is composed of 15 items on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = “Not at all true,” 5 = “Very true”). It measures three distinct and related features of teacher emotional support: Positive Climate (e.g., “Our instructors want the students in this class to work well together”), Teacher’s Sensitivity (e.g., “Our instructors are available to help students when we have questions”), and Regard for Adolescent Perspective (e.g., “Our instructors want the students in this class to work well together”). Cronbach’s Alpha is 0.86 for the total score in the current study and between 0.86 and 0.93 for its subscales.

Lastly, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students (UWES-9S) which was originally developed by Schaufeli (2017) and adapted by Carmona-Halty et al. (2019) was used which measures the overall school engagement of students. UWES-9S is a nine-item self-report scale on a 6-point Likert Scale (0 = “Never”, 6 = “Always”) which is subdivided into three unique features: Vigor [VI] (e.g., “When I am doing my work as a student, I feel bursting with energy”), Dedication [DN] (e.g., “I get carried when I am studying”), and Absorption [ABS] (e.g., “I feel happy when I am studying immensely”). The Cronbach’s Alpha is 0.91 for the entire score in the current study and between 0.77 and 0.86 for its subscales.

Data Analysis

A factor analysis was performed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 4. The statistical analysis that was used is highly suitable for this investigation (Ji et al., 2021). For the measurement model, scholars are advised to consider the outer loadings of the items and the average variance extracted (AVE) to establish convergent validity (Hair et al., 2021). Additionally, the utilization of the Fornell-Larcker and Heterotrait-Monotrait criterion were also performed as per the suggestion of Hair et al., in assessing and establishing discriminant validity. Also, for the structural model, the path coefficients and the coefficient of determination (R²) were measured. Finally, IBM SPSS Version 27 was used for descriptive and correlational statistical analyses such as Pearson R (r) frequency (f) and percentage (%) in order to determine the relationship between variables being measured and respondents’ demographic characteristics (e.g., Gender and Institute).

Concerning the model specification, ARS was the predictor, while TES is the mediating variable, and ENG is the outcome. For ARS, a composite score was used to obtain global score in line with the previous studies (Morelli et al., 2015; Romano et al., 2021b). TES and ENG were used as latent variables, with their respective three subscales’ composite scores as indicators. The conceptual model is shown in Figure 1. Specifically, as depicted in Figure 1, (H₁) represents the effect of ARS on ENG, (H₂) represents the effect of ARS on TES, (H₃) represents the effect of TES to ENG, and lastly, (H₄) represents the indirect effect TES in between ARS and ENG. To test the hypothesized mediation model, a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with 10,000 resamples of bootstrapped estimates with 95% confidence interval (CI) was performed following Hair et al. (2021).

Ethical Considerations

The respondents were informed about the study's objectives, the instruments, and the constructs that will be measured. Additionally, the researcher has provided the benefits of the study for the college and the scientific community. The respondents were required to provide their consent by clicking the agreement attached in the Google forms. They were also given the freedom to decide whether to participate or decline. Participants were also informed that there might be minor risks in their participation in the study, such as the feeling of being uncomfortable in answering personal and sensitive survey questions. Likewise, they were told that no monetary compensation would be provided for giving information. Given these circumstances, participants were free to withdraw or to ask for a debriefing of the study anytime.

Descriptive Statistics

Table 1: Demographic characteristics

*Item*	*Values*	f	*Percentage*
Gender	Male	536	58.9
	Female	374	41.1
Institute	Institute of Education, Arts, and Sciences	393	43.2
	Institute of Business and Management	361	39.7
	Institute of Computing Studies and Library Information Science	156	17.1
	Total	910	100

Table 1 illustrates the demographic characteristics of the respondents who have answered the online survey. The results revealed that most of the respondents are mostly males (N=536) that constitutes to 58.9% from the collected data compared to females (N=374) with 41.1%. Lastly, most of the respondents came from the Institute of Education, Arts and Sciences (N=393) which represents 43.2% of the collected data, followed by the Institute of Business and Management (N=361) with 39.7% and Institute of Computing Studies and Library Information Science (N=156) with 17.1%.

Factor analysis

Table 2: Measurement model results

Construct	Items	Item Loading	CA	CR	AVE
Academic Resilience	ARS11	0.742	0.927	0.929	0.605
	ARS13	0.727
	ARS16	0.772
	ARS18	0.770
	ARS20	0.733
	ARS22	0.821
	ARS24	0.732
	ARS25	0.834
	ARS27	0.817
	ARS30	0.819
Positive Climate (Teacher Emotional Support)	PC1	0.869	0.858	0.868	0.703
	PC2	0.756
	PC3	0.896
	PC5	0.828
Regard for Adolescent perspective (Teacher Emotional Support)	RAP1	0.829	0.861	0.865	0.705
	RAP2	0.830
	RAP3	0.854
	RAP4	0.846
Teacher Sensitivity (Teacher Emotional Support)	TS1	0.865	0.911	0.913	0.738
	TS2	0.864
	TS3	0.900
	TS5	0.858
	TS6	0.807
Vigor (School Engagement)	VR1	0.717	0.764	0.798	0.682
	VR2	0.901
	VR5	0.848
Dedication (School Engagement)	DN3	0.854	0.857	0.864	0.778
	DN4	0.914
	DN7	0.876
Absorption (School Engagement)	ABS6	0.858	0.800	0.811	0.714
	ABS8	0.878
	ABS9	0.796

In order to measure the reliability of each item, a factor loading analysis was conducted. A threshold value of equal to or greater than 0.7 for each item’s loading is considered reliable. The Cronbach’s Alpha (CA) and composite reliability (CR) should also be equal to or greater than 0.7. Additionally, the average variance extracted (AVE) has also been used to validate constructs. It is the grand mean value of the squared loadings of the items related to the construct and the standard measure for establishing convergent validity. The AVE should be at least 0.5 or greater, and the corresponding p-value must be at most 0.5. After performing the factor loading analysis and extraction of items lower than the 0.7, and analyzing the CR and AVE, Table 2 illustrates the result for Academic Resilience (CA 0.927; CR 0.929; AVE 0.605), Positive Climate (Teacher Emotional Support) [CA 0.858, CR 0.868, AVE 0.703], Regard for Adolescent perspective (Teacher Emotional Support) [CA 0.861; CR 0.865; AVE 0.705], Teacher Sensitivity (Teacher Emotional Support) [CA 0.911; CR 0.913; AVE 0.738], Vigor (School Engagement) [CA 0.764; CR 0.798; AVE 0.682], Dedication (School Engagement) [CA 0.857; CR 0.864; AVE 0.778], and Absorption (School Engagement) [CA 0.800; CR 0.811; AVE 0.714). Hence, the convergent validity has been established.

To establish the discriminant validity, the Fornell-Larcker and Heterotrait-Monotrait criterion were inspected. For Fornell-Larcker, the square root of AVE (diagonal value) in each variable should exceed the correlation of latent variables. Lastly, the HTMT value should be <0.9. In this, the results are illustrated in Table 3 and 4, respectively.

Table 3: Fornell-Larcker

	ABS	ARS	DN	PC	RAP	TS	VR
ABS	0.845
ARS	0.497	0.778
DN	0.788	0.593	0.882
PC	0.368	0.637	0.446	0.766
RAP	0.450	0.563	0.464	0.651	0.840
TS	0.454	0.563	0.489	0.702	0.765	0.859
VR	0.771	0.517	0.798	0.395	0.460	0.506	0.826

Table 4: Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio

	ARS	ABS	DN	PC	RAP	TS	VR
ARS
ABS	0.512
DN	0.612	0.782
PC	0.650	0.363	0.442
RAP	0.576	0.445	0.454	0.633
TS	0.584	0.451	0.487	0.703	0.757
VR	0.529	0.763	0.785	0.393	0.455	0.498

Correlation analysis

Before moving forward in performing path and mediation analysis, a correlation of the variables being studies was performed first. Based on the correlation results, findings revealed that ARS is related to ENG (r = .576, p <0.001) and TES (r = .642, p <0.001). In this, it can be construed that the higher the resilience level of students, their perceived teacher’s emotional support and engagement is also increasing. Lastly, it was found that TES is significantly related to ENG (r = .541, p <0.001). Hence, it can be concluded that the higher the perceived teacher’s emotional support of students, also reports higher school engagement.

Structural model assessment, path and mediation analysis

The explanatory power of the model has been evaluated by measuring the discrepancy amount in the variables of the model. As Hair et al. (2021) have stated, the R² and the path coefficients are the essential measures for assessing the structural model. As seen in Figure 2, the model has R²value of TES is 43.4%, and ENG 38.7% respectively.

Table 5: Hypotheses Testing

Hypothesis	Path	Path Coefficient	p-value	Decision
Direct effect
H1	ARS → ENG	0.429	0.000	Supported
H2	ARS → TES	0.659	0.000	Supported
H3	TES → ENG	0.251	0.000	Supported
Indirect effect
H4	ARS → TES → ENG	0.165	0.000	Supported

Table 5 and Figure 2 revealed the path coefficients and p-value for each hypothesis. Based on the findings of this investigation, it can be noticed that all hypothesis were supported. The direct paths show that academic resilience is significantly and positively related to school engagement (β = 0.764, p <.05) and teacher emotional support (β = 0.652, p <.05). The findings posited that the higher the resilience level of students, the more they engaged in school. The same is true with the influence of academic resilience to teacher’s emotional support. Meaning, the higher the resilience level of students, they can perceive a higher emotional support from their instructors. Therefore, H₁ and H₂ were supported. Furthermore, teacher’s emotional support is highly related to students’ engagement (β = 0.281, p <.05). This can be postulated that the higher the teacher’s emotional support perceived by the students, the more it increases their school engagement. In this, H₃ is supported. Finally, the findings revealed after the mediation analysis that teacher’s emotional support mediates the relationship between students’ academic resilience and school engagement (β = 0.165, p <.05). The mediating effect of teacher’s emotional support partially strengthens the significant and positive relationship between academic resilience and school engagement. Therefore, H₄ is supported.

The first hypothesis (H₁) was supported based on the findings that students’ academic resilience is significantly related to and positively affects school engagement. This can be construed that students with high academic resilience are highly betrothed in their academic activities, showing delightfulness in school, positive interactions with instructors, and highly participative in class compared to their counterparts, as supported by previously conducted studies (Rodríguez-Fernández et al., 2018; Romano et al., 2021b; Theron et al., 2022). Additionally, highly resilient students are less likely to experience depression, stress, and fatigue and have a higher quality of life (Dyrbye et al., 2010). Interestingly, highly resilient students simultaneously utilize problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies (Lee et al., 2017). In other words, compared to low-resilient students, academically resilient students believe that venting their emotions could be part of the solution, not the issue when dealing with academic responsibilities. The bottom line is that academically resilient students tend to do their best to pursue excellence, exploiting the contextual and adequate resources at their disposal.

Students’ academic resilience was also discovered to have a positive association to and can positively influence perceived instructor emotional support grounded by the findings, which previous scholars can support (Hu, 2022; Romano et al., 2021b). The findings can be interpreted that highly resilient students tend to perceive higher instructor emotional support compared to less-resilient students, which is analogous to the findings of Yuan et al. (2018). The findings can also be related to the findings of Tang et al. (2019) that students possessing resilient characteristics are more inclined to school engagement. In this, it is highly recommended to build teacher-student rapport and create a positive classroom climate to foster academic resiliency in students (Downey, 2008). The findings posited that academically resilient students perceiving adequate emotional support from their instructors could lead to highly engaged learners. Overall, the second hypothesis (H2) was supported.

The findings also exhibited that students’ perceived instructor emotional support is positively linked to and can influence school engagement, which is interestingly consistent with previous scholarly works (Kelly & Zhang, 2016; Lam et al., 2012; Pérez-Salas et al., 2021; Pöysä et al., 2019; Ruzek et al., 2016). Contrastingly, all the evidence mentioned reported mostly related to students under primary and secondary levels. There have been no accounts of empirical studies found concerning higher education. This finding is significant as it has demonstrated and deepened the relationship between the two variables in the HEI context, especially in the local colleges and universities in the Philippine setting. On the one hand, the findings have supported the third hypothesis (H₃).

Lastly, perceived instructor emotional support has been observed to partially mediate the association between students’ academic resilience and engagement in school, which is similar to the findings of Romano et al. (2021), where their study has been replicated to confirm if the result will be analogous in the current setting of this investigation. Contrastingly, the findings of Ansong et al. (2017) have revealed that perceived teacher emotional support has no mediating effect on the relationship between the two variables. On a positive note, the findings can be construed that academically resilient students positively influence their engagement through instructor emotional support. In other words, highly resilient students tend to engage more thanks to the emotional support that they receive from their instructors. Indeed, instructors have an essential role in ensuring that their students can be meaningfully engaged in their academics which can be further increased through emotional support (Pedler et al., 2020). Additionally, the findings posited that academically resilient students could establish a dependable support network in school, as students distinguish their instructor’s emotional support to foster engagement and academic success. Overall, the fourth hypothesis (H₄) was supported.

The present investigation scrutinized the relationship between academic resilience, perceived instructor emotional support, and school engagement in a sample of college students from the City College of Angeles under the sector of local colleges and universities in the Philippines. The research focuses on academic resilience vis-à-vis school engagement via perceived instructor emotional support. Based on the findings, the correlational, path analysis, and meditational hypotheses were supported. With this, the findings shed light on the mediational effect of perceived instructor emotional support that can lead academically resilient students to a higher level of engagement in a higher education institution setting. Furthermore, the result of this study accentuated that personal resource (i.e., resilience) is a determinant as much as contextual ones (i.e., instructor emotional support) in promoting students’ engagement. The following results may provide new acumens into practical interventions employed in higher education. It is only imperative to promote resiliency in students to promote engagement and prevent maladjustments, especially during this time of post-pandemic. Indeed, for the past years, there have been quite a lot of scholarly works that were published establishing the needs and effectiveness of resilience-based interventions in fostering students’ well-being (Cavioni et al., 2020; Chmitorz et al., 2018; Las Hayas et al., 2019; Morote et al., 2022; Teuber et al., 2021). In light of the findings, this study suggests that the teachers and the College Guidance and Formation Office (CGFO) should collaboratively work together to address the need for resilience-based interventions, especially for those students with low resilience levels and those who belong to at-risk groups. Services include but are not limited to classical guidance, group guidance, individual counseling, and group counseling (Setiawati, 2022). To sum it up, any increase in well-being levels generated by a resilience-based intervention program can increase students’ resilience and engagement levels (McKeering et al., 2021).

Moreover, the results of this study have highlighted effective classroom interactions, specifically instructors’ emotional support being provided to students. The quality of the emotional support established by instructors to students should not be unheeded. From a professional development perspective, the findings strongly recommend that the administration develop in-depth training for instructors on establishing and providing emotional support to their respective students. In this, policymakers and practitioners should also provide interventions to boost instructors’ knowledge and capacity that may greatly help such complex school-related events during their professional careers. Not only at the primary and secondary level, the mental health and work-related well-being of instructors in higher education may also affect students’ well-being at school.

Most importantly, the present investigation has some limitations which are very important to emphasize. First, the respondents for this study are only limited to students from the City College of Angeles. Therefore, the result of this study can generalize the entire students from other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines. In this, future researchers may find curiosity in conducting a similar study by collecting data from other private and public colleges and universities and determine if the findings may support or refute the claims of this inquiry. Additionally, the study proposes adding and testing other variables, such as demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, family income), that were not considered in this current investigation. Lastly, this study suggests that future researchers adopt a multi-informant design by collecting teachers’ reports, as teachers may provide much more profound information, especially on the emotional support they provide to students, filling in the gap between these two archetypes.

Conflict of Interest

The author of this article declares no conflict of interest.

Availability of Data and Materials

The data and materials are available upon request.

Funding

No funding.

Ahmed, U., Umrani, W. A., Qureshi, M. A., & Samad, A. (2018). Examining the links between teachers support, academic efficacy, academic resilience, and student engagement in Bahrain. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 5(9), 39–46. https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2018.09.008

Ansong, D., Okumu, M., Bowen, G. L., Walker, A. M., & Eisensmith, S. R. (2017). The role of parent, classmate, and teacher support in student engagement: Evidence from Ghana. International Journal of Educational Development, 54, 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2017.03.010

Benito Mundet, H., Llop Escorihuela, E., Verdaguer Planas, M., Comas Matas, J., Lleonart Sitjar, A., Orts Alis, M., Amadó Codony, A., & Rostan Sánchez, C. (2021). Multidimensional research on university engagement using a mixed method approach. Educación XX1, 24(2), 65–96. https://doi.org/10.5944/educxx1.28561

Bittmann, F. (2021). When problems just bounce back: about the relation between resilience and academic success in German tertiary education. SN Social Sciences, 1(2), 65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00060-6

Carmona-Halty, M. A., Schaufeli, W. B., & Salanova, M. (2019). The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students (UWES–9S): Factorial Validity, Reliability, and Measurement Invariance in a Chilean Sample of Undergraduate University Students. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01017

Cassidy, S. (2015). Resilience Building in Students: The Role of Academic Self-Efficacy. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(NOV), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01781

Cassidy, S. (2016). The Academic Resilience Scale (ARS-30): A New Multidimensional Construct Measure. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(NOV), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01787

Cavioni, V., Grazzani, I., & Ornaghi, V. (2020). Mental health promotion in schools: A comprehensive theoretical framework. International Journal of Emotional Education, 12(1), 65–82. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1251771.pdf

Chmitorz, A., Kunzler, A., Helmreich, I., Tüscher, O., Kalisch, R., Kubiak, T., Wessa, M., & Lieb, K. (2018). Intervention studies to foster resilience – A systematic review and proposal for a resilience framework in future intervention studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 59(November 2017), 78–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2017.11.002

Domitrovich, C. E., Durlak, J. A., Staley, K. C., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Social-Emotional Competence: An Essential Factor for Promoting Positive Adjustment and Reducing Risk in School Children. Child Development, 88(2), 408–416. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12739

Downey, J. A. (2008). Recommendations for Fostering Educational Resilience in the Classroom. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 53(1), 56–64. https://doi.org/10.3200/PSFL.53.1.56-64

Dwiastuti, I., Hendriani, W., & Andriani, F. (2022). The Impact of Academic Resilience on Academic Performance in College Students During the Covid-19 Pandemic. KnE Social Sciences, 2021(ICoPsy 2021), 25–41. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v7i1.10198

Dyrbye, L. N., Power, D. V., Massie, F. S., Eacker, A., Harper, W., Thomas, M. R., Szydlo, D. W., Sloan, J. A., & Shanafelt, T. D. (2010). Factors associated with resilience to and recovery from burnout: a prospective, multi-institutional study of US medical students. Medical Education, 44(10), 1016–1026. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2010.03754.x

Eva, N., Parameitha, D. D., Farah, F. A. M., & Nurfitriana, F. (2021). Academic Resilience and Subjective Well-Being amongst College Students using Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic. KnE Social Sciences, 2020, 202–214. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v4i15.8206

Fiorilli, C., Farina, E., Buonomo, I., Costa, S., Romano, L., Larcan, R., & Petrides, K. V. (2020). Trait Emotional Intelligence and School Burnout: The Mediating Role of Resilience and Academic Anxiety in High School. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(9), 3058. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17093058

Frenzel, A. C., Daniels, L., & Burić, I. (2021). Teacher emotions in the classroom and their implications for students. Educational Psychologist, 56(4), 250–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2021.1985501

Frey, B. B. (2018). Convenience Sampling. In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation. SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506326139.n155

García-Crespo, F. J., Fernández-Alonso, R., & Muñiz, J. (2021). Academic resilience in European countries: The role of teachers, families, and student profiles. PLOS ONE, 16(7), e0253409. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253409

Gartland, D., Riggs, E., Muyeen, S., Giallo, R., Afifi, T. O., MacMillan, H., Herrman, H., Bulford, E., & Brown, S. J. (2019). What factors are associated with resilient outcomes in children exposed to social adversity? A systematic review. BMJ Open, 9(4), e024870. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024870

Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., Danks, N. P., & Ray, S. (2021). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). In Sage. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80519-7

Hu, Y. (2022). Academic Resilience in Chinese EFL Classrooms: Relationship with Teacher Support Activities. Frontiers in Educational Research, 5(5), 31–42. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2022.050507

Jaya, L. H. S., & Ariyanto, E. (2021). The Effect of Vigor, Dedication and Absorption on the Employee Performance of PT Garuda Indonesia Cargo. European Journal of Business and Management Research, 6(4), 311–316. https://doi.org/10.24018/ejbmr.2021.6.4.1006

Ji, R., Yue, X., & Zheng, X. (2021). Using PLS-SEM to Examine the Structure of First-year University Students’ Mathematics-related Beliefs. Higher Education Studies, 11(4), 7. https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v11n4p7

Jindo, T., Kai, Y., Kitano, N., Tsunoda, K., Nagamatsu, T., & Arao, T. (2020). Relationship of workplace exercise with work engagement and psychological distress in employees: A cross-sectional study from the MYLS study. Preventive Medicine Reports, 17(October 2019), 101030. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.101030

Kelly, S., & Zhang, Y. (2016). Teacher Support and Engagement in Math and Science: Evidence from the High School Longitudinal Study. The High School Journal, 99(2), 141–165. https://doi.org/10.1353/hsj.2016.0005

Kennedy, M. M. (2019). How We Learn About Teacher Learning. Review of Research in Education, 43(1), 138–162. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X19838970

Konishi, C., & Wong, T. K. Y. (2018). Relationships and School Success: From a Social-Emotional Learning Perspective. In Health and Academic Achievement. InTech. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75012

Koob, C., Schröpfer, K., Coenen, M., Kus, S., & Schmidt, N. (2021). Factors influencing study engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study among health and social professions students. PLOS ONE, 16(7), e0255191. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255191

Lam, S., Jimerson, S., Kikas, E., Cefai, C., Veiga, F. H., Nelson, B., Hatzichristou, C., Polychroni, F., Basnett, J., Duck, R., Farrell, P., Liu, Y., Negovan, V., Shin, H., Stanculescu, E., Wong, B. P. H., Yang, H., & Zollneritsch, J. (2012). Do girls and boys perceive themselves as equally engaged in school? The results of an international study from 12 countries. Journal of School Psychology, 50(1), 77–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2011.07.004

Las Hayas, C., Izco-Basurko, I., Fullaondo, A., Gabrielli, S., Zwiefka, A., Hjemdal, O., Gudmundsdottir, D. G., Knoop, H. H., Olafsdottir, A. S., Donisi, V., Carbone, S., Rizzi, S., Mazur, I., Krolicka-Deregowska, A., Morote, R., Anyan, F., Ledertoug, M. M., Tange, N., Kaldalons, I., … de Manuel Keenoy, E. (2019). UPRIGHT, a resilience-based intervention to promote mental well-being in schools: study rationale and methodology for a European randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1413. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7759-0

Lee, J. H., Seo, M., Lee, M., Park, S. Y., Lee, J. H., & Lee, S. M. (2017). Profiles of Coping Strategies in Resilient Adolescents. Psychological Reports, 120(1), 49–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294116677947

Listau, K., Christensen, M., & Innstrand, S. T. (2017). Work Engagement: A Double-Edged Sword? A Study of the Relationship between Work Engagement and the Work-Home Interaction Using the ARK Research Platform. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 2(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.16993/sjwop.20

Lohner, M. S., & Aprea, C. (2021). The Resilience Journal: Exploring the Potential of Journal Interventions to Promote Resilience in University Students. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(October), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.702683

Martin, A. J., Burns, E. C., Collie, R. J., Cutmore, M., MacLeod, S., & Donlevy, V. (2022). The role of engagement in immigrant students’ academic resilience. Learning and Instruction, 82(June), 101650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2022.101650

McKeering, P., Hwang, Y.-S., & Ng, C. (2021). A study into wellbeing, student engagement and resilience in early-adolescent international school students. Journal of Research in International Education, 20(1), 69–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409211006650

Morelli, E., Palamà, D., & Meneghelli, C. (2015). Il ruolo degli stili cognitivi e degli aspetti emotivo- motivazionali nella buona riuscita nello studio. Difficoltà Di Apprendimento e Didattica Inclusiva, 2, 477–486. http://tutorapprendimento.psy.unipd.it/sites/default/files/ps_Il_ruolo_degli_stili_cognitivi.pdf

Morote, R., Las Hayas, C., Izco-Basurko, I., Anyan, F., Fullaondo, A., Donisi, V., Zwiefka, A., Gudmundsdottir, D. G., Ledertoug, M. M., Olafsdottir, A. S., Gabrielli, S., Carbone, S., Mazur, I., Królicka-Deręgowska, A., Knoop, H. H., Tange, N., Kaldalóns, I. V., Jónsdóttir, B. J., González Pinto, A., & Hjemdal, O. (2022). Co-creation and regional adaptation of a resilience-based universal whole-school program in five European regions. European Educational Research Journal, 21(1), 138–164. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904120947890

Mozammel, S., Ahmed, U., Slade, H., & Zaman, F. (2018). Digging deep in students’ engagement in Bahrain: Contributions from academic self-efficacy and academic resilience. International Journal of Management and Business Research, 8(1), 136–147. https://www.aou.org.bh/research/Documents/Research/BAS/Dr_Umair/Journals/2018B.pdf

Pakarinen, E., Lerkkanen, M.-K., & von Suchodoletz, A. (2020). Teacher emotional support in relation to social competence in preschool classrooms. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 43(4), 444–460. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2020.1791815

Pangle, J. E. (2022). Student Achievement and Teacher Perceptions of School Climate in Title 1 and NonTitle 1 Schools. Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 4122. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/4122

Pedler, M., Yeigh, T., & Hudson, S. (2020). The Teachers’ Role in Student Engagement: A Review. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 45(3), 48–62. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2020v45n3.4

Pérez-Salas, C. P., Parra, V., Sáez-Delgado, F., & Olivares, H. (2021). Influence of Teacher-Student Relationships and Special Educational Needs on Student Engagement and Disengagement: A Correlational study. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(July). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.708157

Pitzer, J., & Skinner, E. (2017). Predictors of changes in students’ motivational resilience over the school year. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 41(1), 15–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025416642051

Pöysä, S., Vasalampi, K., Muotka, J., Lerkkanen, M., Poikkeus, A., & Nurmi, J. (2019). Teacher–student interaction and lower secondary school students’ situational engagement. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(2), 374–392. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12244

Rao, P. S., & Krishnamurthy, A. R. (2018). Impact of Academic Resilience on the Scholastic Performance of High School Students. Indian Journal of Mental Health, 5(4), 453. https://doi.org/10.30877/IJMH.5.4.2018.453-462

Robayo-Tamayo, M., Blanco-Donoso, L. M., Román, F. J., Carmona-Cobo, I., Moreno-Jiménez, B., & Garrosa, E. (2020). Academic engagement: A diary study on the mediating role of academic support. Learning and Individual Differences, 80(May), 101887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2020.101887

Rodríguez-Fernández, A., Ramos-Díaz, E., & Axpe-Saez, I. (2018). The Role of Resilience and Psychological Well-Being in School Engagement and Perceived Academic Performance: An Exploratory Model to Improve Academic Achievement. In Health and Academic Achievement. InTech. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73580

Rojas, L. F. (2015). Factors Affecting Academic Resilience in Middle School Students: A Case Study. GiST Education and Learning Research Journal, 11(11), 63–78. https://doi.org/10.26817/16925777.286

Romano, L., Angelini, G., Consiglio, P., & Fiorilli, C. (2021a). The Effect of Students’ Perception of Teachers’ Emotional Support on School Burnout Dimensions: Longitudinal Findings. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(4), 1922. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041922

Romano, L., Angelini, G., Consiglio, P., & Fiorilli, C. (2021b). Academic Resilience and Engagement in High School Students: The Mediating Role of Perceived Teacher Emotional Support. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 11(2), 334–344. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe11020025

Romano, L., Buonomo, I., Callea, A., Fiorilli, C., & Schenke, K. (2020). Teacher Emotional Support Scale on Italian High School Students: A Contribution to the Validation. The Open Psychology Journal, 13(1), 123–132. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874350102013010123

Ruzek, E. A., Hafen, C. A., Allen, J. P., Gregory, A., Mikami, A. Y., & Pianta, R. C. (2016). How teacher emotional support motivates students: The mediating roles of perceived peer relatedness, autonomy support, and competence. Learning and Instruction, 42, 95–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2016.01.004

Salvacion, M. L. D. S., Sana, E. A., & Yanilla, N. F. (2018). Academic Resilience Among Selected Students of the School of Health Sciences- Baler, Philippines. Journal of Health Research, 22(4), 28–36. http://scinet.dost.gov.ph/union/Downloads/250-577-1-SM_367703.pdf

Schaufeli, W. B. (2017). General Engagement: Conceptualization and Measurement with the Utrecht General Engagement Scale (UGES). Journal of Well-Being Assessment, 1(1–3), 9–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41543-017-0001-x

Serrano Sarmiento, Á., Sanz Ponce, R., & González Bertolín, A. (2021). Resilience and COVID-19. An Analysis in University Students during Confinement. Education Sciences, 11(9), 533. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090533

Setiawati, D. (2022). Guidance and Counseling Services to Improve Student Resilience. Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Arts and Humanities 2021 (IJCAH 2021), 618(Ijcah), 1179–1182. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211223.206

Sittar, K. (2020). Relationship of Work Engagements and Job Performance of University Teachers. Bulletin of Education and Research, 42(1), 167–183. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1258031.pdf

Tamannaeifar, M., & Shahmirzaei, S. (2019). Prediction of Academic Resilience Based on Coping Styles and Personality Traits. Practice in Clinical Psychology, 7(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.32598/jpcp.7.1.1

Tang, X., Wang, M.-T., Guo, J., & Salmela-Aro, K. (2019). Building Grit: The Longitudinal Pathways between Mindset, Commitment, Grit, and Academic Outcomes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48(5), 850–863. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-00998-0

Teuber, Z., Nussbeck, F. W., & Wild, E. (2021). The Bright Side of Grit in Burnout-Prevention: Exploring Grit in the Context of Demands-Resources Model among Chinese High School Students. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 52(3), 464–476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-01031-3

Theron, L., Ungar, M., & Höltge, J. (2022). Pathways of resilience: Predicting school engagement trajectories for South African adolescents living in a stressed environment. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 69, 102062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2022.102062

Vattøy, K.-D., & Gamlem, S. M. (2019). Teachers’ regard for adolescent perspectives in feedback dialogues with students in lower-secondary schools. Nordisk Tidsskrift for Utdanning Og Praksis, 13(2), 39–55. https://doi.org/10.23865/up.v13.1970

Versteeg, M., Kappe, R. F., & Knuiman, C. (2022). Predicting Student Engagement: The Role of Academic Belonging, Social Integration, and Resilience During COVID-19 Emergency Remote Teaching. Frontiers in Public Health, 10(March), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.849594

Wu, Y., Sang, Z., Zhang, X.-C., & Margraf, J. (2020). The Relationship Between Resilience and Mental Health in Chinese College Students: A Longitudinal Cross-Lagged Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(February). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00108

Yang, G., Sun, W., & Jiang, R. (2022). Interrelationship Amongst University Student Perceived Learning Burnout, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Teacher Emotional Support in China’s English Online Learning Context. Frontiers in Psychology, 13(March), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.829193

Yang, Y., Li, G., Su, Z., & Yuan, Y. (2021). Teacher’s Emotional Support and Math Performance: The Chain Mediating Effect of Academic Self-Efficacy and Math Behavioral Engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(September), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.651608

Ye, W., Strietholt, R., & Blömeke, S. (2021). Academic resilience: underlying norms and validity of definitions. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 33(1), 169–202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-020-09351-7

Yilmaz Findik, L. (2016). What Makes a Difference For Resilient Students in Turkey? Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 16(64), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.14689/ejer.2016.64.5

Yuan, G., Xu, W., Liu, Z., & An, Y. (2018). Resilience, Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, and Posttraumatic Growth in Chinese Adolescents After a Tornado. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 206(2), 130–135. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000778

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Download PDF

Version 2

posted

You are reading this older preprint version

Read the latest preprint version →

The Mediating Role of Perceived Instructor’s Emotional Support to Students’ Academic Resiliency and School Engagement

Status:

Version 2

Abstract

Figures

Introduction

Literature Review

Materials And Methods

Results

Discussion And Conclusion

Declarations

References

Additional Declarations

Status:

Version 2