THE EFFECTS OF SOCIOCULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL SUPPORTS ON  RESILIENCE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES  AMONG VIETNAMESE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Vu, Uyen Thi Minh

THE EFFECTS OF SOCIOCULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL SUPPORTS ON RESILIENCE AND LEARNING OUTCOMES AMONG VIETNAMESE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Files

Vu_hawii_0085A_10744.pdf (1.53 MB)

Date

2020

Authors

Vu, Uyen Thi Minh

Advisor

Ratliffe, Katherine T.

Department

Educational Psychology

Abstract

Although college-aged students are not commonly known as an at-risk population, their mental health has been a growing concern on campus. Dealing with daily pressures might either be damaging or enhancing students’ coping skills. Research on resilience has shown that in the midst of many risk factors, there are students who employ their coping mechanisms to be resilient and achieve academic successes. These students may experience the same level of stress and challenges as others but have protective mechanisms in place to help them thrive. In Vietnam, the connection between resilience and learning outcomes can come from cultural teachings and family values, as well as from the society’s high regard for education. Building on this belief, this study examined the linkage between students’ resilience, which was reflected in the ability to handle stress, and their learning outcomes in today’s Vietnamese context. The study identified key contributing factors to resilience and learning outcomes to reveal students’ coping processes in the face of difficult life events. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) bioecological theory, taking the cultural perspectives of resilience from Masten (2001) and Ungar (2011), and viewing university experiences in the light of student engagement rooted in Pace’s (1980), Astin’s (1984) and Tinto’s (1975) studies, this sequential explanatory mixed method study utilized three survey instruments and an in-depth interview questionnaire to investigate the effects of sociocultural and educational supports on students’ stress-coping abilities and GPA. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using a structural equation modeling approach, and individual interviews were examined using thematic analysis. The use of mixed methods design enabled prioritizing one research method over the other, which in this study was the quantitative phase, while gaining perspectives from both approaches. Results showed that Vietnamese students’ stress-coping abilities had a negative relationship with their GPA, as measured by the CD-RISC-10, and personal social competency was the key contributing factor to their GPA and resilience. Peer, family, and cultural supports, which were often expected to enhance students’ resilience and learning outcomes, were not significant supports of GPA and stress-coping ability. Qualitative interviews further explored the construct of social competency through students’ descriptions of their connections with peers, faculty, and informants outside the school context, and demonstrated students’ processes of overcoming adversities. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on resilience and learning outcomes among Vietnamese university students through findings about the importance of social competency and three validated research instruments. The inclusion of a more expanded student population in future research may help to further understand these results.

Keywords

Educational psychology, Higher education, Cultural supports, GPA, Higher education, Resilience, Stress coping, Vietnam

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10125/70381

Extent

136 pages

Rights

All UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.

Collections

Ph.D. - Educational Psychology

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