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Conceptualizing students’ academic hardiness dimensions: a qualitative study

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Abstract

Academic hardiness is a personality characteristic that may differentiate students who avoid challenging academic course work from others who are willing to pursue these types of challenges. Research findings have demonstrated the need to understand and examine the construct in different life stages and cultural settings, and there are additional aspects of the construct that have yet to be identified. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible dimensions of academic hardiness and its components (commitment, control, and challenge) using qualitative methodology. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 primary school children (aged 10–12 years old). They were asked to narrate and reflect on their experience about school failure and low grade in a test in a school lesson. The findings demonstrate that students differ as to the way they face the negative experience, as results showed that a variety of factors were related with students’ academic hardiness. The findings are discussed in relation to the recent literature.

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Notes

  1. Students were free to choose the school lesson they had the experience of a low grade and to talk about it. Some students’ choice was mathematics, whereas some other students’ choice was the language lesson.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology, Section Psychology, University of Ioannina, Arx. Makariou 37, 45221, Ioannina, Greece

    Spiridon Kamtsios & Evangelia Karagiannopoulou

Authors
  1. Spiridon Kamtsios
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  2. Evangelia Karagiannopoulou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Spiridon Kamtsios.

Additional information

Kamtsios Spiridon MSc, PhD cand. is a physical education teacher of primary school children in Greece. His main research interests concern (a) educational psychology: hardiness and its dimensions in school settings, stress interventions, coping, and school psychology and (b) physical education: attitudes towards exercise, obesity, and exercise.

Evangelia Karagiannopoulou. is an educational psychologist, assistant professor in Department of Philosophy, Education and Psychology, Section: Psychology, University of Ioannina, Greece. Her main research interests concern learning in higher education, stress, and coping.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Kamtsios, S., & Karagianopoulou, E. (2012) Exploring the psychometric properties of the “German Questionnaire Measuring Stress and Coping in Children and Adolescents,” in a Greek sample. European Journal of Psychological Assessment (submitted).

Karagianopoulou, E. & Kamtsios, S. (2011). Stages of change, self-efficacy and stress management perceptions in undergraduate students. International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), 1–9.

Karagiannopoulou, E. & Christodoulides, P. (2005). The impact of Greek University students’ perceptions of their learning environment on approaches to studying and academic outcomes. International Journal of Educational Research, 43(6), 329–350.

Karagiannopoulou, E. (2006). The experience of revising for essay type examinations: differences between first and fourth year students. Higher Education, 51, 329–350.

Karagiannopoulou, E. (2011). Revisiting learning and teaching in higher education. A psychodynamic perspective. Psychodynamic Practice, 17(1), 5.

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Kamtsios, S., Karagiannopoulou, E. Conceptualizing students’ academic hardiness dimensions: a qualitative study. Eur J Psychol Educ 28, 807–823 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-012-0141-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-012-0141-6

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