Factors Influencing the Relationship Between Psychological Well-Being, Self-Efficacy, and Personal Growth Initiative Among First Year University Students

Factors Influencing the Relationship Between Psychological Well-Being, Self-Efficiency, and

Personal Growth Initiative Among First Year University Students




A Research Proposal Submitted by:


Name: Kelsey Nairn


Course Name: SBAppSocSci


Due Date: 6th May, 2021


Word Count: 2730




South African College of Applied Psychology


Johannesburg Campus


May 2021




i

,TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.....................................................................................................................................................ii
1. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................................1
2. STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS........................................................................................................1
3. LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................................................................................2
4. METHOD............................................................................................................................................................................5
5. RESULTS............................................................................................................................................................................8
6. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS...........................................................................................................................................10
7. CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................................................11
8. REFERENCES..................................................................................................................................................................12

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


Personal Growth Initiative is a concept of metacognition, understanding, and expected engagement in

the context of growth enhancement. It is an attitude toward change and progress through life realms.

Self-efficacy is described as a self-perceived ability to cope with difficult situations. It is the

hierarchical mechanism by which a person can perceive, understand, and explain their feelings. The

idea of general well-being is multi-layered; it is the product of a complex equilibrium between

different aspects of life. This paper aims to look into first-year students' growth initiative, emotional

self-efficacy, and psychological well-being and look into the relationship between personal growth

initiative, emotional self-efficacy, and psychological well-being. A descriptive analysis is needed due

to the nature of the research. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 200 first-year

students from the university. Data was collected using Robitschek's Personal Development Initiative-

II scale, Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS-II, 16-item), and Ryff's Scales of Psychological

Well-being (42-item). Parametric statistical methods were used to analyze the results. According to

the report, there was a positive relationship between PGI and PWB and between self-efficacy and

PWB.




ii

, 1. INTRODUCTION


Different factors influence psychological well-being in the life of a first-year university

student. The current theoretical understanding of psychological well-being and its influencing factors

is based on very few empirical forms of research. This study attempted to establish the connection

between personal growth initiative (PGI) and levels of self-efficacy with the facets of psychological

well-being, namely, personal growth, self-acceptance, environmental mastery, positive relations,

autonomy, and purpose in life. The research data was collected quantitavely, and the sample was

characterized of 200 first-year university students, of which 130 of the participants were female, and

70 were male. An online survey was administered via the university website to students to explore

the positive or negative relationship between psychological well-being, self-efficacy, personal growth

initiative, and how the data collected correlates with previous research findings. The measurement

tools utilized in this study included Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-being (42-item), the General

Self-Efficacy scale (10-item), and the Personal Growth Initiative Scale (PGIS-11; 16 item), and the

findings were analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment


2. STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS


The purpose of the research was to respond to the following questions:


1. How do personal growth and Self-Efficacy relate to psychological well-being?

2. What effect do self-efficacy and personal growth influence the PWB of first-year university

students?


1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY


In my literature review, I noticed a gap of a lack of research conducted on psychological well-

being, self-efficacy, and Personal Growth Initiative among first-year university students. The

significance of this study is to fill this existing gap.