Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Hardiness And Autonomy Support On College Student Engagement, Kevin Douglas Cherry

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The gap between college student enrollment and graduation rates remains a problem for college students and administrators. Literature on persistence in college suggests that factors such as hardiness and autonomy support may contribute to student perseverance through degree attainment. The current study focused on these constructs using a framework based on self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 1985). Factors related to student persistence, namely hardiness and autonomy support, were expected to positively predict college student engagement. Furthermore, hardiness was expected to moderate the relationship between autonomy support and college student engagement. College students from a university and a community college …