Academic Resilience among High-Performing Students in Higher Education: Evidence from a Philippine State University

Academic resilience is recognized as a key determinant of student success in higher education, enabling learners to maintain academic performance despite educational challenges. Guided by contemporary resilience theory, this study examined the demographic and educational characteristics of high-performing first-year university students, determined their level of academic resilience, and investigated the extent to which selected characteristics predicted resilience. A quantitative descriptive design was employed involving 102 purposively selected high-performing students, operationally defined as those with a General Weighted Average (GWA) of 1.75–1.00(highest), at the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire incorporating a 10-item Academic Resilience Scale (Cronbach's α = .91) and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. The respondents demonstrated a high level of academic resilience (M = 3.71). However, age, school origin, Senior High School program, perceived economic status, and parents' educational background did not significantly predict academic resilience (F = 0.289, p = .918, R² = .015). These findings suggest that resilience among high-performing students is relatively consistent across demographic groups and may be more strongly influenced by psychological resources and supportive educational environments than by demographic characteristics alone. The study contributes context-specific evidence to academic resilience research in Philippine higher education and highlights the importance of strengthening institutional interventions that promote self-regulated learning, academic self-efficacy, growth mindset, and adaptive coping strategies.

Academic Resilience; High-Performing Students; Higher Education; Demographic Characteristics; Philippines

1. Agasisti, T., & Longobardi, S. (2017). Equality of educational opportunities, schools' characteristics and resilient students: An empirical study of EU-15 countries using OECD PISA 2012 data. Social Indicators Research, 134(3), 917–953. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-016-1464-5 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. American College Health Association. (2024). National College Health Assessment III: Undergraduate Student Reference Group Executive Summary Spring 2024. American College Health Association. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Arnett, J. J. (2015). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Azhar, M., & Kibtiyah, M. (2024). The impact of family social support on academic resilience in Indonesian and Turkish students: The mediating role of self-regulated learning. Youth & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2024.2361725 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W. H. Freeman. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Bellhäuser, H., et al. (2024). Resilience and self-regulated learning as predictors of student competence gain in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from a binational sample. Frontiers in Education, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1293736 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Brewer, M. L., van Kessel, G., Sanderson, B., Naumann, F., Lane, M., Reubenson, A., & Carter, A. (2019). Resilience in higher education students: A scoping review. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(6), 1105–1120. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1626810 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Cai, Z., & Meng, Q. (2025). Academic resilience and academic performance of university students: The mediating role of teacher support. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1463643 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Cassidy, S. (2016). The Academic Resilience Scale (ARS-30): A new multidimensional construct measure. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, Article 1787. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01787 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Sage. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Department of Education. (2016). K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum Framework. https://www.deped.gov.ph/ [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Department of Education. (2024). MATATAG Curriculum and K to 12 Basic Education Program. https://www.deped.gov.ph/ [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Eccles, J. S., & Roeser, R. W. (2016). Schools as developmental contexts during adolescence. In R. M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science (7th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Li, K., Wang, H., Siu, O. L., & Yu, H. (2024). How and when resilience can boost student academic performance: A weekly diary study on the roles of self-regulation behaviors, grit, and social support. Journal of Happiness Studies, 25(4), Article 36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00749-4 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Martin, A. J. (2013). Academic buoyancy and academic resilience: Exploring "everyday" and "classic" resilience in the face of academic adversity. School Psychology International, 34(5), 488–500. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034312472759 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Martin, A. J., & Marsh, H. W. (2006). Academic resilience and its psychological and educational correlates: A construct validity approach. Psychology in the Schools, 43(3), 267–281. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20149 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Masten, A. S. (2021). Resilience of children in disasters: A multisystem perspective. International Journal of Psychology, 56(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12737 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Nadeak, R., Surbakti, A., & Simanjuntak, N. (2024). The impact of social support on academic resilience mediated by self-regulated learning. Journal of Educational, Health and Community Psychology, 13(3), 934–953. https://doi.org/10.12928/jehcp.v13i3.29434 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Nyman, F. (2024). You're not learning skills—you're just realizing what you can do: A preliminary study of self-regulation in higher education. Frontiers in Education, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1418297 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2019). PISA 2018 Results (Volume II): Where All Students Can Succeed. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/b5fd1b8f-en [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2021). Beyond Academic Learning: First Results from the Survey on Social and Emotional Skills. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/92a11084-en [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2023). PISA 2022 Results (Volume I): The State of Learning and Equity in Education. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/53f23881-en [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Richardson, M., Abraham, C., & Bond, R. (2017). Psychological correlates of university students' academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 143(4), 353–387. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000098 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Schleicher, A. (2018). World class: How to build a 21st-century school system. OECD Publishing. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Taber, K. S. (2018). The use of Cronbach's alpha when developing and reporting research instruments in science education. Research in Science Education, 48(6), 1273–1296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-016-9602-2 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines. (2025). About USTP. https://www.ustp.edu.ph/ [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. van der Zanden, P. J. A. C., et al. (2024). How undergraduate students learn: Uncovering interrelationships between factors that support self-regulated learning and strategy use. Metacognition and Learning, 19, 743–772. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-024-09389-8 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

29. Wang, F., Huang, P., & King, R. B. (2025). Fostering resilience among university students: The role of teaching and learning environments. Higher Education. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

30. Wiguna, F. A., Wijaya, A. N., Nabila, N. A., & Sawitri, D. R. (2024). Factors influencing academic resilience among university students. EAI Endorsed Transactions on Creative Technologies. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

31. Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2020). What can be learned from growth mindset controversies? American Psychologist, 75(9), 1269–1284. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000794 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

32. Zhang, R., & Zou, D. (2024). Self-regulated second language learning: A review of types and benefits of strategies, modes of teacher support, and pedagogical implications. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 37(4), 720–765. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2022.2055081 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

33. Zimmerman, B. J. (2015). Self-regulated learning: Theories, measures, and outcomes. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed., pp. 541–546). Elsevier [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• A Comparative Study of Adjustment Level, Parental Income and Academic Achievement of Adolescent Girls
• Increase in STIs among Adolescents in Masvingo District
• A Correlation between SDG 4 (Quality Education) and Emotional Disposition of Teacher Educators in Hyderabad District
• Ear Piercing Behaviour and Self-Esteem among Male University Students in Nigeria
• A Study of Religiosity and Psychological Well-Being