A MEASURE OF ACADEMIC SITUATIONAL CONSTRAINTS - OUT-OF-CLASS CIRCUMSTANCES THAT INHIBIT COLLEGE-STUDENT DEVELOPMENT

Academic situational constraints are out-of-class circumstances and activities which increase a student's work load, cause stress, and constrain academic performance and development. In this study, an instrument assessing 15 types of constraints was developed and administered to 405 college students. Principal components analysis and a multitrait-multimethod analysis generally supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the scales. Using SAT scores as a control variable, situational constraint scales accounted for significant amounts of unique variance in perceived work load, stress, GPA, and perceived academic development.