Abstract
Undergraduate students entering higher education for the first time face a variety of risks and challenges, such as higher levels of stress, withdrawal from their program of studies without graduating, and the development of substance use disorders and other psychopathology (Auerbach et al., 2016). Considering that many students succeed during this time in spite of the risks, resilience may play an important role during this time. One possible contributor to resilience in this population is executive functions, which are a set of cognitive processes that influence and organize cognition and behaviour in the pursuit of goals (Baggetta & Alexander, 2016). Executive functions may be particularly important due to the increase in demands for independence and organization during higher education. Understanding the relationship between
executive functions and resilience is critical to improving the student experience. The present study, using a mixture of questionnaires and an executive function task, examined the relationship between resilience, executive functions, and positive intrapersonal and academic outcomes in first-year undergraduate students. Executive functions were found to be associated with both resilience and positive outcomes.
