Author(s): Costa, Vicente ; Simães, C. ; Gomes, A. Rui ; Carvalho, Humberto M. ; Morais, Catarina ; Fontes, Liliana Magalhães Campos
Date: 2025
Persistent ID: https://hdl.handle.net/1822/97722
Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
Subject(s): Mental health; Academic activity; Personal and contextual factors; University students; Multilevel regression
The present study explored university students' experience of stress, burnout and academic achievement expectations by analysing personal (i.e., sex) and contextual factors related to academic activity (i.e., type of institution, type of academic course and course attendance stage). The study included 1133 students, 238 (21%) reported being males and 888 (78.4%) females, attending health sci-ences, social sciences, and psychology courses from multiple public and private institutions in the Portuguese higher education system. The evaluation protocol comprised the following instruments: The Stress Questionnaire for Students, the Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure, and the Academic Achievement Expectations. Data were analysed employing multilevel regression and poststratification models. Findings revealed moderate levels of stress, burnout and academic achievement ex-pectations among students and consistent sex differences in stress and burnout. Study results showed multiple effects regarding contextual factors related to aca-demic activity. Conclusions suggest considering personal and contextual factors to accurately characterise university students' academic experience, which must be considered when implementing occupational intervention programs.
