1. Hanan M. Asghar, BSc. International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT) April 4-6, 2014 Portu, Portugal

2. Outline Introduction and background -Definition of terms Purpose Justification Methodology Results Delimitations & Scope

3. Student Engagement Engagement occurs when students make a psychological investment in learning (Newmann, 1992) Characteristics of Engaged Students ( Skinner & Belmont, 1993) Sustained behavioral involvement Positive emotional tone Match tasks with competencies Initiate action Positive emotional state (e.g., enthusiasm, optimism, curiosity & interest)

4. Grim Scenario Disaffection (Skinner & Belmont, 1993) - Characterized by negative connotations for the individual (e.g., lack of motivation, withdrawal, boredom, stress, depression, anxiety, anger, un-involvement, rebellious behaviors, misconduct) -Educational demands put students at risk of anxiety (Townsend, 2004)

5. Indicators of Student Engagement Positive, persistent and dynamic -Psychological -Physiological -Social Support (e.g., Schaufeli et. al. (2002), Appleton et. al. (2006) )

6. The Case of University Students Educational demands (e.g., going from class to class, meeting deadlines, poor coping skills, lack of support and recognition) lead to emotional distress (Van der Merwe (2003) ) Low engagement is associated with anxiety, fatigue & headaches (Marais & Kristen (1999) ) Prevalence of distress higher during 1 st three years of study (Abdulghani et. al., (2011) Physical (headaches, chills) & psychological (stress & anxiety) problems associated with students academic year (Abdulghani et. al., (2011); Larcombe et. al. (2013 )

7. Aims of the Study (a) assess the level of student engagement and anxiety across academic years of study (e.g., freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) (b) examine the relationship between student engagement and anxiety.

8. Research Questions (a)Is there any significant difference between: i. Student engagement and collegiate levels; e.g., freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors? ii.Anxiety and collegiate levels (b) Is there any significant relationship between student engagement and level of anxiety among female college students?

9. Methodology Participants 432 females (M = 20.22 yrs, SD = 1.97, R = 16) Measures (self reporting) i. Utrecht Work Engagement Scale Student Version (UWES9), (Shaufeli, Baker & Salanova, 2006) ii. Depression, Anxiety* and Stress Scale (DASS42), (Lovibond, 1995) (for the purpose of this study, only anxiety scale was used. The internal reliability of both scales was over.80) Scoring As per criteria of scale developers

10. Results RQ 1 i. Student Engagement: Average (M = 3.35, SD = 1.09) The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated a significant difference between student’s academic year of study and engagement, F(3, 428) = 3.63, p =.01. ii. Anxiety: Moderate (M = 12.07, SD= 8.69) The ANOVA for years in college and anxiety was not significant F(3, 428) = 2.05, p = n.s.

11. Descriptive Statistics College LevelStudent Engagement (M) Anxiety (M) Freshman (n = 172)3.3511.05 Sophomore (n = 120)3.56*12.13 Junior (n = 55)3.00*14.20 Senior (n = 85)3.2912.68 *Post hoc comparisons with the use of Dunnett’s C test indicated a significant difference (p <.05) in the level of engagement between sophomores and juniors, but no significant differences between other groups were found.

12. RQ 2 An inverse relation was found between student engagement and anxiety, r(430) = -.13, p <.01.

13. Conclusion -Juniors and seniors are less engaged than freshman and sophomore counterparts. - the weak correlation between anxiety and student engagement suggests that engaged students tend to have low anxiety levels Directions for Future Research (a) what are the factors that motivate students to engage? (b) what strategies do academicians use to engage students? (c) how can students stay engaged without getting emotionally distressed? “Increasing student engagement is especially important at the university level in increasing student persistence”. (Kuh et. al. (2008)

14. Limitations -Sample -Student engagement was studied only in relation to anxiety -Limited generalizability Recommendations for Future Studies -Comparative study -Pre-post design -Inclusion of more variables (e.g., stress, academic achievement, perceived social & organizational support) -Evaluation of psychometric properties of the scales

15. Questions, Feedback, Suggestions Please write to me at: hananasgar@gmail.com hananasgar@gmail.com