Investigating the transition process across the undergraduate degree: implementing a peer mentoring program to address the second year slump
Creators: name: Quinlivan, Tara
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024

description: Providers of higher education are constantly faced with questions of how to improve undergraduate students’ experience and how to help students better realise their potential. This thesis examines these questions in a sample of university students across the three years of an undergraduate psychology course. Study 1 utilised 342 first year, 110 second year and 103 third students’ recruited from RMIT University. Student’s completed a demographic questionnaire and an assessment battery that examined social, psychological and academic performance. It was hypothesised that the variables social support, self efficacy, self esteem and problem-focused coping would predict lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress, and higher GPA. It was further predicted that good written and verbal English proficiency, good study skills and previous academic achievement would predict higher GPA scores and lower depression, anxiety and stress scores. It was also predicted that high levels of depression, anxiety and stress would have an association with lower GPA. These associations are widely supported in the literature and serve as the expected regular trends. This study sought to assess the moderating effect of year level on each of these relationships. The results of Study 1 support the assertion that year level will have a moderating effect on these relationships, with the second year showing the greatest impact on stress reducing variables.<br> <br>The results of Study 1 provide insight into those factors that are predictive of psychological adjustment and academic achievement, and provide information on how those factors change across the duration of a student’s degree. As the second year was highlighted as particularly influential, Study 2 created a mentoring program targeted at second year students. Students were recruited from their tutorial groups, with 23 students participating in the mentored group, and 63 serving as the non-mentored control. It was anticipated that by targeting students’ coping and study skills, student GPA could be increased and the variables Depression, Anxiety and Stress decreased. Students were assessed by completing the same battery of questions as presented in Study 1. Students also completed a qualitative questionnaire that assessed their opinion of the program and any perceived benefits from the program. The results revealed no statistically significant changes in student grades or psychological well being, however the mentored group showed an increased level of active coping, religious coping, and denial coping across the semester. Additionally, both groups increased in their hours of study, with the mentored group equalling the non-mentored group at the end of semester after initially studying three times less than the non-mentored students. Further, mentored students noted improvement in academic skills, support and self refection in the qualitative questionnaire. The implications of these outcomes and how mentoring programs could be improved to address the second year more specifically is discussed. <br>