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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Educ.
Sec. Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1490291
This article is part of the Research Topic Psychoeducational Approaches to Mental Health for Educators and Students View all 5 articles

From fear to fortitude: Academic adjustment during COVID-19 among South African undergraduates

Provisionally accepted
Matumelo Maria Tau Matumelo Maria Tau 1Curwyn Mapaling Curwyn Mapaling 2Wandile Fundo Tsabedze Wandile Fundo Tsabedze 3*
  • 1 North-West University Mahikeng Campus, Mmabatho, South Africa
  • 2 University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
  • 3 University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The outbreak of COVID-19 introduced unprecedented uncertainty worldwide; South Africa was no exception. There is a paucity of information or research on the impacts on academic adjustment, and the fear of COVID-19 among undergraduate students in a new university environment. This study aimed to examine the relationship between academic adjustment, and the fear of COVID-19 among undergraduate students enrolled at a South African University. A cross-sectional correlational research design was employed, utilising web-based questionnaires that combined the Academic Adjustment Scale and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. The theoretical framework that was used in the study is the self-transcendence theory, supported by theoretical perspectives on adjustment and differential susceptibility theories. A total of 501 participants, both male and female, were selected through simple random sampling to self-report on their academic adjustment, and fear of COVID-19. Collected data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Simple linear regression correlation analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were used to determine the relationship between variables (academic adjustment and the fear of the COVID-19 pandemic). The results showed a significant positive Pearson's correlation. Fear of COVID-19 was positively correlated with academic adjustment (r = .17, p <.001). Fear of COVID-19 was further positively correlated with dimensions of academic adjustments, which include academic achievement (r =.19, p <.001) and academic motivation (r = .20, p < .001). The study concluded that there was a significant positive correlation between the fear of COVID-19 and academic adjustment. Therefore, it is crucial to implement interventions aimed at continuously enhancing students' academic adjustment as a seamless process for them.Globally, outbreaks of infectious diseases can lead to a rise in mental health difficulties among the people affected and the sub-groups of the population that are at an elevated risk of mental health problems. Sub-groups such as students are no exception in being affected academically during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic (1). On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern regarding the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the disease known as COVID-

    Keywords: Academic adjustment, Fear of COVID-19, South Africa, undergraduate students, college students

    Received: 02 Sep 2024; Accepted: 05 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tau, Mapaling and Tsabedze. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wandile Fundo Tsabedze, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

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