Predicting academic performance in first-year engineering students: The role of stress, resiliency, student engagement, and growth mindset

The first-year post-secondary experience of engineering students poses an interesting area of inquiry due to the challenges and experiences associated with the transition into a professional degree program. This study aimed to investigate if four psychological variables (perceived stress, student engagement, resilience, and growth mindset) predicted first-year engineering student performance via end-of-first-year grade point average (GPA). An optional online research survey was administered through a mental health and professional skills initiative of the engineering department to undergraduate first-year engineering students. Perceived stress was found to be a significant predictor of GPA. Post-hoc moderation analyses revealed that the relationship between stress and GPA was buffered by resilience (i.e., weaker stress-GPA relationship at higher levels of resilience) and enhanced by student engagement (i.e., stronger stress-GPA relationship at higher levels of engagement). Implications for the importance of resiliency initiatives are discussed, including embedding resiliency skill development within curriculum.