Hope and Social Support as Predictors of Academic Resilience among College Students

Online classes induced psychological and academic challenges for college students in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies on the influence of hope and social support were conducted prior to the onset of the pandemic. Given that an overwhelming population of college students who were forced to engage in online classes, a new experience for most, it is argued that academic resilience may be compromised. Hence, this study examined the extent to which hope and social support predict the academic resilience of college students who held classes virtually. Using an online survey, 641 (258 males; 383 females) college students in a large public university in the Philippines completed the questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed to address the research objectives. Results found that 38% of the variance in academic resilience can be explained by hope, <img src=image/19539892_01.gif>, <img src=image/19539892_02.gif>, and 14% by social support, <img src=image/19539892_03.gif>, <img src=image/19539892_02.gif>, indicating that hope and social support both predict academic resilience. We also found significant sex differences in academic resilience, with female college students scoring higher than their male counterparts, <img src=image/19539892_04.gif>, <img src=image/19539892_05.gif>. These findings provide an understanding of hope as an internal factor and social support as an external factor in facilitating an academically resilient college student population. This study proves the importance of the variables of interest in the conduct of context-based and gender-based resiliency interventions for college students.