Abstract
This cross-sectional, exploratory study explores the impact of mentoring on students’ academic anxiety. Data were collected through a mixed-methods approach. Results indicated that mentoring has a positive and neutral impact on academic anxiety.
Primary Author and Speaker: Barbra Katerberg
Additional Authors and Speakers: Hailie Vansickle, Zainab Hussain, Natalie A. Fallad, Tess Anderson
High anxiety is a concern among college students, specifically academic anxiety. Academic mentoring has become a tool utilized in universities to address this issue. This mixed-method, cross-sectional study examines how academic mentoring affects academic anxiety in college students. A survey was deployed through Google Forms and sent out to a convenient sample via school email and class visitations. 236 participants completed the survey, which had qualitative and quantitative questions regarding mentoring’s impact on academic anxiety, and it also included the Academic Anxiety Scale (AAS). Using Google Sheets, qualitative data was independently coded and themed, then discussed with all researchers until consensus on final themes was agreed upon. The themes from mentored students (N = 36) that emerged indicated academic mentoring helped relieve academic anxiety symptoms (36%), improved overall confidence (19%), had other overall positive effects (25%), but it also had no impact (33%). Quantitative data was analyzed with Google Sheets and SPSS software used for independent t-tests with (α) set at ≤ 0.05. Mean scores on the AAS showed mentored students fell within the moderate academic anxiety level and non-mentored students fell within the mild academic anxiety level (p = .037). 42.8% of mentored students felt mentoring helped relieve academic anxiety, yet this group had higher academic anxiety. In 200 non-mentored students, 79% had elevated anxiety on the AAS, and 31% of these students believed that mentoring would be beneficial for improving academic anxiety. This study’s results indicate that students perceive academic mentoring as having either a neutral or positive effect on their academic anxiety levels. As many college students are faced with academic anxiety, this study can help educators understand the potential benefits of mentoring and can inform the creation of programs to address mental health concerns, especially in relation to academic anxiety.
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