The Effects of Belonging-Focused Video Content Targeting a Prospective University on Academic Motivation and Expected University Adjusment

This study examines whether short videos showing campus life and student experiences at a prospective university are associated with changes in high school students' academic motivation and expectations of university adjustment. The study used a seven-day controlled pretest–posttest design with 140 initially enrolled 12th-grade students. Of these, 100 completed the program and were included in the final analysis (50 in the experimental group and 50 in the active control group). Participants were assigned to groups in alternating registration order rather than through true randomization. The experimental group watched approximately 15 minutes of videos each day about campus life and student experiences at their target universities. The control group watched videos about university admission and examination preparation strategies for the same duration. The experimental group showed greater increases in self-reported academic motivation and expected university adjustment than the control group. The difference in motivation change was +0.426 points (p = 0.00101), while the difference in expected adjustment change was +0.613 points (p = 0.00298). A greater increase in reported daily study time was also observed in the experimental group. However, the difference in students' estimated chances of university acceptance was not statistically significant. These findings suggest that exposure to university-life content may be associated with short-term changes in how prospective students imagine their future university experiences and approach academic preparation. The results should be interpreted cautiously because of participant attrition, non-randomized group assignment, self-reported measurements, and the use of research-specific scales without established psychometric validation. The study did not measure actual university adjustment or long-term academic outcomes. This manuscript is shared as an independent research preprint and has not undergone formal peer review. The study did not receive formal ethics committee approval or institutional research permission. Participant identities are represented using codes, and potentially identifying communication records are not publicly shared to protect participant privacy.