Academic Engagement, Learning Interest, and Psychological Well-being of Undergraduates: The Role of Gender and Parentage

This study examines the impact of undergraduates’ gender and parental background on their psychological well-being, learning interest, and academic engagement. This study adopted the cross-sectional quantitative research type of the non-experimental design and was underpinned by the Self-determination Theory (ST). The study’s population consisted of 230 undergraduates enrolled in degree programmes at the Federal University Oye-Ekiti in Nigeria. The data were collected using a Google Form-hosted tool tagged the “Students’ Academic Engagement, Learning Interest, Psychological Well-being and Parenting Questionnaire (SAELIPWPQ),” which had Cronbach alphas of 0.92, 0.85, and 0.70, respectively. SPSS V26 software was utilized to analyse the study’s data at a 5% significance level using descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance. Findings indicate no significant difference between undergraduates parentage and their learning interest (F(229) = 0.44; p = 0.72), academic engagement (F(229) = 0.16; p = 0.92), and psychological well-being (F(229) = 2.09; p = 0.10). Thefindings further reveal that students’ gender significantly influenced their academic engagement (t(228) = 4.21; p=0.000), but not their learning interest (t(228) = -0.76; p=0.45), nor psychological well-being (t(228) = 0.42; p=0.67). The study concludes that the percentage of undergraduates does not have a significant influence on their academic engagement, learning interests, and psychological well-being while their gender significantly impacts their academic engagement. The study recommends that a congenial and enabling learning environment that fosters students’ academic engagement be provided in Nigerian universities and that positive gender dynamics, equality, and equity policies and practices be enshrined in universities’ teaching and learning operations, management, and culture. Keywords: Academic Involvement, Interest In Learning, Parentage, Psychological Wellness, Undergraduates, Nigeria.