University student’s engagement: development of the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI)

Student engagement is a key factor in academic achievement and degree completion, though there is much debate about the operationalization and dimensionality of this construct. The goal of this paper is to describe the development of an psycho-educational oriented measure – the University Student En...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPsicologia, reflexão e crítica Vol. 29; no. 1
Main Authors Maroco, João, Maroco, Ana Lúcia, Campos, Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini, Fredricks, Jennifer A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cham Springer International Publishing 01.01.2016
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (JFRGS)
Springer Nature B.V
Curso de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
SpringerOpen
Subjects
Academic achievement
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Biological Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Health Psychology
PHYSICS, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
Psychological assessment
Psychological Methods/Evaluation
Psychology
Psychology Research
Psychometrics
Scale construction
School dropout
Student participation
University students
University students’ engagement
Validity
Brasil
Academic achievement
Scale construction
University students’ engagement
School dropout
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Summary:Student engagement is a key factor in academic achievement and degree completion, though there is much debate about the operationalization and dimensionality of this construct. The goal of this paper is to describe the development of an psycho-educational oriented measure – the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI). This measure draws on the conceptualization of engagement as a multidimensional construct, including cognitive, behavioural and emotional engagement. Participants were 609 Portuguese University students (67 % female) majoring in Social Sciences, Biological Sciences or Engineering and Exact Sciences. The content, construct and predictive validity, and reliability of the USEI were tested. The validated USEI was composed of 15 items, and supported the tri-factorial structure of student engagement. We documented evidence of adequate reliability, factorial, convergent and discriminant validities. USEI’s concurrent validity, with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Survey, and the predictive validity for self-reported academic achievement and intention to dropout from school were also observed.
ISSN:1678-7153
0102-7972
1678-7153
DOI:10.1186/s41155-016-0042-8