Análisis de la influencia de variables psicológicas en el compromiso académico y satisfacción con la vida en estudiantes mexicanos de Educación Física

Abstract

Contemporary society is characterized by uncertainty, volatility, complexity, and ambiguity, which can also be reflected in university students. The university stage represents a challenging period for students and is considered a significant turning point in individuals' lives. The restrictive measures due to COVID-19 had serious consequences on the physical and psychological health of the global population, as lockdowns, social distancing, and mobility limitations had a significant impact on people's daily lives, including the educational context. This doctoral thesis (in the form of a compilation of articles) comprises three research studies published in impactful journals, each addressing different objectives. The first article aims to analyze the effect of GRIT personality on academic commitment, taking into account the mediating role of resilience. The second study examines the predictive relationship between emotional intelligence and academic commitment, mediated by academic self-efficacy. Thus, the first two articles focus on the analysis of psychological variables on the academic commitment of Mexican undergraduate students in Physical Education, particularly considering that the data were collected in the post-COVID-19 period. Therefore, the third article integrates one of the analyzed mediating variables (i.e., emotional intelligence) and aims to assess the impact of emotional intelligence on life satisfaction, analyzing the mediating role of social interaction anxiety. The research design was observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, and nonrandomized. The study involved 1,164 students (30% female, 69.6% male, 0.4% others) from the three campuses of the Faculty of Sports at the Autonomous University of Baja California (19.8% from the Ensenada campus, 30.7% from the Mexicali campus, 49.6% from the Tijuana campus), with ages ranging from 17 to 50 years (M = 21.21; SD = 3.26). The total study population (N) consists of 1,663 undergraduate students in Physical Activity and Sports, representing 70% of the study population (N), making the sample representative with a confidence level of 99% and a margin of error of 2.08%. The following scales were used: GritO Scale, Resilience, Academic Commitment, Emotional Intelligence, Academic Self-Efficacy, Social Interaction Anxiety, Life Satisfaction. Structural equation analysis with the two-step method was conducted for all three articles. The results of the first article demonstrate that the perseverance of effort has a direct and positive effect on resilience, behavioral and emotional commitment, and a negative effect on behavioral disaffection. The consistency of interest has a direct and negative effect on behavioral and emotional disaffection and a positive effect on behavioral commitment. The total effects on behavioral commitment, emotional commitment, and emotional disaffection from the perseverance of effort are increased through the mediation of resilience. The total effects from the consistency of interest are not statistically significant. In the second article, the results highlight the significant role of academic self-efficacy, as emotional clarity is only related to the dimensions of academic commitment and academic disaffection through academic selfefficacy. Moreover, it significantly enhances the total effects of emotional repair on behavioral commitment, emotional commitment, and emotional disaffection. In the third article, the crucial role of emotional clarity and repair as mediating variables between social interaction anxiety and life satisfaction is demonstrated, as they reduce the negative effect of social interaction anxiety on life satisfaction. Therefore, having a personality characterized by perseverance of effort and emotional repair, as well as emotional clarity, leads to increased academic selfefficacy, reduced social interaction anxiety, and greater life satisfaction.