The role of social class in academic university contexts: exploring students' academic self-concept, educational expectations, and achievement goals.

IF 2.9 3区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Frontiers in Psychology Pub Date : 2025-07-10 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1542359

Mara Marini, Chiara Parisse, Stefano Pagliaro, Ilaria Giovannelli, Davide Pietroni, Stefano Livi

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction: Despite international progress, socioeconomic inequalities continue to significantly impact young people's opportunities to realize their full potential and actively engage in society. Research has demonstrated that socioeconomic factors are critical risk factors for undergraduate students' adaptation and academic success. However, the psychological processes underlying this phenomenon remain inadequately understood.

Methods: To address this gap, we conducted two studies involving university students. Study 1 explored the relationship between socioeconomic status (both objective [parents' educational attainment] and subjective [subjective social status] indicators), students' academic self-concept, and educational expectations. In Study 2, we investigated the moderating role of achievement goals in the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic self-concept.

Results: The findings indicated that socioeconomic barriers were negatively related to students' educational expectations through academic self-concept. Additionally, low performance-avoidance goals were found to enhance first-generation students' academic self-concept.

Discussion: These results underscore the importance of supporting students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, thereby improving their self-perceptions in academic settings and assisting them to achieve their educational goals.

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社会阶层在大学学术环境中的作用：探讨学生的学术自我概念、教育期望和成就目标。

导言：尽管国际社会取得了进步，但社会经济不平等继续严重影响年轻人充分发挥潜力和积极参与社会的机会。研究表明，社会经济因素是影响大学生适应和学业成功的关键风险因素。然而，这种现象背后的心理过程仍然没有得到充分的理解。方法：为了解决这一差距，我们进行了两项涉及大学生的研究。研究1探讨了社会经济地位（客观指标[父母受教育程度]和主观指标[主观社会地位]）、学生学业自我概念和教育期望之间的关系。研究二考察成就目标在社会经济地位与学业自我概念关系中的调节作用。结果：社会经济障碍通过学业自我概念与学生的学业期望呈负相关。此外，低绩效回避目标能增强第一代学生的学业自我概念。讨论：这些结果强调了支持来自低社会经济背景的学生的重要性，从而提高他们在学术环境中的自我认知，帮助他们实现教育目标。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

5.30

自引率

13.20%

发文量

7396

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Psychology is the largest journal in its field, publishing rigorously peer-reviewed research across the psychological sciences, from clinical research to cognitive science, from perception to consciousness, from imaging studies to human factors, and from animal cognition to social psychology. Field Chief Editor Axel Cleeremans at the Free University of Brussels is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians and the public worldwide. The journal publishes the best research across the entire field of psychology. Today, psychological science is becoming increasingly important at all levels of society, from the treatment of clinical disorders to our basic understanding of how the mind works. It is highly interdisciplinary, borrowing questions from philosophy, methods from neuroscience and insights from clinical practice - all in the goal of furthering our grasp of human nature and society, as well as our ability to develop new intervention methods.