ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1568392
This article is part of the Research TopicProtective vs Risk Factors for Stress and Psychological Well-being in Academic University ContextsView all 9 articles
Psychological Capital and Procrastination among Mothers in Higher Education
Provisionally accepted
- 1Tel-Hai College, Tel Hai, Israel
- 2Tel Hai Academic College, Upper Gallille, Israel
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Student mothers face unique challenges as they balance academic responsibilities with family obligations, often leading to increased stress and academic difficulties. Psychological capital (PsyCap) -a construct comprising hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism -has been shown to promote positive outcomes in educational contexts. This comparative study sought to enrich the understanding of how psychological assets support mothers in achieving their educational goals, contributing to the discourse on improving institutional support. We investigated the relationships between PsyCap, academic procrastination, and academic adjustment, comparing mothers in higher education to non-mothers. We hypothesized academic procrastination would mediate the relationship between PsyCap and academic adjustment in both groups. A crosssectional design was employed with 216 students (156 mothers, 60 non-mothers) from Israeli higher education institutions. We used four questionnaires to test the research hypotheses: a demographic and academic information questionnaire, the PsyCap Questionnaire, the Academic Adjustment Questionnaire (AAQ), and the Academic Procrastination Questionnaire. Results indicated significant positive correlations between PsyCap and academic adjustment and significant negative correlations between PsyCap and procrastination in both groups. No significant group differences were found in levels of PsyCap, procrastination, or adjustment.Mediation analysis confirmed procrastination mediated the relationship between PsyCap and academic adjustment for both mothers and non-mothers. These findings highlight the role of PsyCap in enhancing academic adjustment by reducing procrastination and underscore the importance of fostering psychological strengths and tailored support systems for student mothers.
Keywords: Academic adjustment, academic procrastination, higher education, Mothers, Psychological Capital, Student mothers
Received: 29 Jan 2025; Accepted: 20 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Walter and Hazan-Liran. 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: Ofra Walter, Tel-Hai College, Tel Hai, Israel
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