Relationship Between Volitional Regulation and Academic Achievements in University Students

The paper presents results of a study on the relationship between the features of volitional regulation and academic performance in university students of different years and areas of training. The study compared students (year 1 to 4) of 'Psychology' (n=133) and 'State and Municipal Administration' (n=201) programmes. The following methods were used: the Action Control Scale by J.Kuhl; the questionnaire for revealing the expression of self-control in the emotional sphere, activity and behavior (developed by G.S.Nikiforov, V.K.Vasilyev and S.V. Virsov); the Dembo-Rubinstein self-esteem scale (modified by V.A.Ivannikov and E.V. Eidman, 1990); the Purpose in Life Test (by D.A. Leontiev). The arithmetic mean of all examination marks received by the student during the current academic year was used as an indicator of academic performance. It is shown that in junior students of the management programme the indicator of academic performance positively correlates with the indicators of the Action Control Scale (p<0.01), the Purpose in Life Test (p<0.01) and behavioral self-control (p<0.01), whereas in students of the psychology programme it positively correlates with indicators of the Purpose in Life Test (p<0.01) and social self-control (p<0.01). No significant correlations were found in senior students. The results obtained in the study allow us to draw some conclusions about the contribution of volitional regulation to the level of academic achievements in students.