Interplay of Birth Order and Type of Course in Shaping Resilience and Efficacy among College Students

Description

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20503590

Renu Tiwari and Madhu Lata Nayal (Department of Psychology, SSJ University, Almora, Uttarakhand)

Well-being in education extends beyond academic performance to include psychological strengths that help students navigate challenges. Resilience and efficacy are key components of psychological and cultural well-being, enabling effective coping with academic, social, and personal demands. The present study seeks to investigate the role of birth order and type of course in shaping students’ resilience and efficacy level, within the framework of a cultural well-being perspective. Using stratified random sampling, 180 college students from three districts (Almora, Pithoragarh, & Bageshwar) of the Kumaon division of Uttarakhand were selected. Birth order was categorized into first-born, middle-born and last-born groups, with 60 students in each category. Within each group, 30 students from professional and non-professional courses were randomly selected using the personal data schedule. Efficacy and resilience level were assessed using the Psychological Capital Scale (Rani & Chaudhary, 2018). The results indicate that among groups formed based on birth order and type of course, differ significantly on the levels of efficacy and resilience. With respect to birth order, no significant difference was found in efficacy level at 0.05. However, a statistically significant difference was observed in resilience level. Similarly, students from different types of courses did not differ significantly in efficacy and resilience level. Moreover, the interaction between birth order and type of course was statistically significant for efficacy level, whereas non-significant difference for resilience level.