Date of Graduation

Spring 2019

Degree

Master of Science in Psychology

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Adena Young

Abstract

Negative mental health outcomes are becoming increasingly prevalent in college students. Depression, anxiety, and stress have been previously shown to negatively impact academic motivation and performance. Resilience and social support can serve as preventative factors to protect students from this adversity. Resilience is a dynamic process that changes based on environmental factors. An individual’s perceptions of social support can be influenced by friends, family, and significant others. Another possible influence in the perception of social support and resilience is race/ethnicity. Social support especially has been viewed differently based on culture. The purpose of this study was to examine the links between resilience, social support, academic success, mental health, and race/ethnicity. The results showed that resilience significantly predicted both stress and depression but failed to predict anxiety. Also, resilience was a mediator in the relationship between depression and academic performance. This study was limited in the scope of participants both in number and location. Future research should focus on further examination of resilience and its connection to academic success, as well as interventions to improve it.

Keywords

resilience, mental health, social support, academic performance, college students

Subject Categories

Psychiatry and Psychology

Copyright

© Bailey Hart

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