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The fit between dignity self‐construal and independent university norms: Effects on university belonging, well‐being, and academic success
Author(s) -
Menkor Michèle,
Nagengast Benjamin,
Van Laar Colette,
Sassenberg Kai
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2717
Subject(s) - dignity , psychology , construal level theory , social psychology , dropout (neural networks) , independence (probability theory) , norm (philosophy) , higher education , statistics , mathematics , machine learning , political science , computer science , law
Abstract Universities struggle with students’ low well‐being and high dropout rates. High (compared to low) fit between students’ self‐construal and perceived university norms might help to prevent these problems. A strong dignity self‐construal (i.e., the understanding that one's worth is independent of others) is adaptive if university norms stress independence. The more a university norm is perceived as stressing independence, the better the fit for students with a strong (vs. weak) dignity self‐construal. Thus, if students with a strong dignity self‐construal perceive a university norm as stressing independence, they should develop a greater sense of belonging to the university and, in turn, experience higher well‐being, more motivation, and lower dropout intention. A longitudinal study with two measurement points conducted with students from 18 universities ( N = 719) provided support for these predictions. This underlines the relevance of the fit between student and (perceived) school characteristics for the higher education sector.