Question

Bem-estar nos estudantes do ensino superior: papel das exigncias e dos recursos percebidos no contexto acadmico e atividades de voluntariado

Answer 1

This dissertation sets out to understand the perception of academic well-being (burnout and engagement) and subjective well-being (emotional, psychological and social) in higher education students, on the basis of their perception of the demands and resources of the academic setting and personal variables (volunteering practice). Three longitudinal studies were conducted by using the assumptions of the Job Demands-Resources Model (JD-R), (Demerouti et al., 2001) and an adaptation study of a subjective well-being measure (study 2), Mental Health Continuum – Long Form (MHC-LF) – for adults (Keyes, 2007), to a sample of students from the University of Lisbon (N=465). In the first longitudinal study (study 1), influence relations of academic demands and resources perception at the beginning of the school year (T1) on the perception of academic well-being (burnout and engagement) at the end of the school year (T2) (N=128) were analysed. The results partially supported the anticipated hypotheses: the perception of more resources at T1 negatively influenced the perception of burnout at T2. In the second longitudinal study (study 3), the influence relations between the perceived academic demands and resources at T1 and subjective well-being (emotional, psychological and social) at T2 (N=128) were studied. Significant relations were found at each point of the school year and throughout the year: perception of more time pressure at T1 positively influenced perception of more emotional well-being at T2 and perception of role clarity at T2 influenced the perception of less emotional well-being at T2. In the last study (study 4), application of the JD-R model assumptions was extended to the personal variable – volunteering practice. A positive influence relation was found between volunteering practice at the beginning of the school year (T1) and levels of emotional well-being at the end of the school year (T2)