Session Information
ERG SES D 15, Attitudes and Education
Paper Session
Contribution
Currently, in many European countries students face great amount of socioeconomic insecurity as far as future employment and earnings are considered. There are also noticeable differences between countries in this respect. Unfavourable situation on the job market forces many people to work beyond what is considered reasonable and healthy. Work addiction understood as unhealthy attitude towards work is gaining increasing attention among researchers as it becomes a serious problem for public health. It is suggested that workaholic tendencies can be observed in students with reference to study attitudes and behaviours. Therefore, a concept of "study addiction" is introduced and defined within work addiction framework as a compulsive over-involvement in studying which interferes with functioning in other domains and is detrimental for the individual and/or his/her environment. Initial studies showed that "study addiction" is related to higher levels of stress and exam stress, lower quality of life, and worse academic performance (Atroszko and Pallesen, 2013). This poses important problem for human capital development as the potential of many talented, determined and diligent students might be at risk. As far as educational possibilities are concerned, the existing research provides much data on the disadvantaged situation of those representing low socioeconomic status (e.g. Orr, 2003; National Center for Education Statistics, 2008). These studies mainly concentrate on education of children (e.g. Aikens and Barbarin, 2008; Coley, 2002). However, there is scarce evidence of how adverse socioeconomic situation relates to particular attitudes and behaviors among university students. Preliminary studies showed that more financial resources and greater satisfaction with the conditions of living place are related to positive learning-related attitudes, beliefs and behaviours (Atroszko, 2013). It is hypothesised that low socioeconomic status and more importantly socioeconomic insecurity are risk factors for the development of study addiction. It is hypothesised that socioeconomic insecurity is a moderator of the relationship between study addiction and perceived stress psychosocial functioning. It is expected that there is stronger positive relationship between study addiction and perceived stress and worse psychosocial functioning among students experiencing high than those experiencing low socioeconomic insecurity.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Atroszko, P. A. Relationship between financial resources and home environment and students’ learning-related attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Ad Alta: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 3 (2), 2013, pp. 7-10. Atroszko, P. Conceptualization and measurement of study addiction. The 15th Conference on Social and Community Psychology, Bergen, Norway, 20th November, 2013. Paper presented at the Conference. Aikens, N. L., Barbarin, O. Socioeconomic differences in reading trajectories: The contribution of family, neighborhood, and school contexts. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 2008, pp. 235-251. Coley, R. J. An uneven start: Indicators of inequality in school readiness. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service, 2002. National Center For Education And Statistics. Percentage of high school dropouts among persons 16 through 24 years old (status dropout rate), by income level, and percentage distribution of status dropouts, by labor force status and educational attainment: 1970 through 2007. 2008. ORR, A. J. Black-White differences in achievement: The importance of wealth. Sociology of Education, 76. 2003, pp. 281-304.
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