Comparing persistence amongst students with low and high sense of meaning at an institution of higher learning in South Africa

Resumo

The study evaluated the relationship between sense of meaning and throughput rate with a sample of alumnae of a university. Participants were a stratified sample of two groups, 20 students who scored high on the Purpose in life (PIL) test, and 20, who scored low on the PIL test, selected from a random sample of 101 alumnae from the Faculty of Management Sciences, of a university of technology, in South Africa (age range = 27 to 30 years, females = 73%, majority ethnicity = 70% Sotho speaking). The research is a follow up of a study conducted with the same participants in their first-year of study to investigate the relationship between students’ sense of meaning and the extent to which it influences adjustment, at university (N=101). Data were gathered using the Purpose in Life Test (PIL), Biographical Questionnaire, and Student Records. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare persistence level for High Meaning Group and Low Meaning Group. There was a significant difference in the scores for High Meaning Group (M=3.150, SD=1.785) and Low Meaning Group (M=0.500, SD=1.573) conditions; t (38) = 4.267, p = 0.000. These results suggest that a high sense of meaning does have an effect on persistence levels of university students. Specifically, the results suggest that when students have a high sense of meaning in their first-year of study, they are able to persevere and complete their studies.