Beyond dropout: mapping resilience in postgraduate students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35381/r.k.v11i21.5068Keywords:
postgraduate dropout, risk and protective factors, institutional perception, academic resilience, (UNESCO Thesaurus).Abstract
The study aimed to analyze the influence of risk factors, academic and psychosocial resilience, and institutional perception on the intention to drop out of postgraduate programs at private Latin American universities. A quantitative descriptive-exploratory design was employed, complemented by qualitative elements. A validated instrument was applied to 572 participants from three universities, and descriptive and correlational analyses were conducted, along with multiple regression, moderation tests, and thematic analysis. The results showed moderate levels of dropout intention, positively correlated with academic overload, financial situation, and emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, the significant buffering effect of resilience was demonstrated, and institutional perception was found to act as a moderator in the risk–dropout relationship. Qualitative evidence confirmed the need for proactive advising, flexible pause policies, and psychological support. It was validated that student retention requires the articulation of individual competencies with institutional foundations.
Downloads
References
Amponsah, M. O., Ampofo, K. A., Annan-Brew, R. K., & Dadzie, J. (2024). Academic resilience and academic engagement as predictors of academic burnout among postgraduate students at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. International Journal of African Higher Education, 10(3), 73-98. https://doi.org/10.6017/ijahe.v10i3.17959
Blanco, E., Bernardo A. B., Tuero E., & Núñez, J. C. (2025). Academic stress, evaluation anxiety, and university dropout intention: Mediating and moderating roles for resilience. Psicología Educativa, 31(2), 101-109. https://doi.org/10.5093/psed2025a13
Burke, C., & Scurry, T. (2024). Reconceptualising graduate resilience – an integrated multi-level framework for future research. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 45(7–8), 1125–1145. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2024.2406204
Cai, Z. & Meng, Q. (2025). Academic resilience and academic performance of university students: the mediating role of teacher support. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1463643. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1463643
Cassidy, S. (2016). The Academic Resilience Scale (ARS-30): A new multidimensional construct measure. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1787. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01787
Chan, Y. F., Supramanian, K., Hassan, Z. & Yusof, S. M. (2024). Exploring the Heublein Model to Resolve Postgraduate Student Dropout in a Malaysian Public University. Asian Journal of University Education (AJUE), 20(2), 328-345. https://doi.org/10.24191/ajue.v20i2.26999
Collier, K. M., & Blanchard, M. R. (2024). Graduate student resilience: Exploring influential success factors in U.S. graduate education through survey analysis. Trends in Higher Education, 3, 637-680. https://doi.org/10.3390/higheredu3030037
Connor, K. M., & Davidson, J. R. T. (2003). Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC). Depression and Anxiety, 18(2), 76-82. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.10113
Duarte, W., Rada Villamizar, M. A., Jiménez Pomárico, A. L., Escalante Terán, M. A., & Lora Guette, C. A. (2025). Síndrome de burnout y resiliencia en residentes de postgrado del Instituto Autónomo Hospital Universitario de Los Andes, Mérida Venezuela, 2024. GICOS, 10(3), 12-25. https://doi.org/10.53766/GICOS
Flores Chén, Y. M. (2025). Resiliencia y desafíos de los estudiantes universitarios trabajadores. Revista Guatemalteca de Cultura, 5(2), 23–31. https://doi.org/10.46954/revistaguatecultura.v5i2.71
Glorieux, A., Spruyt, B., Minnen, J., & van Tienoven, T. P. (2025). Calling it quits: a longitudinal study of factors associated with dropout among doctoral students. Studies in Higher Education, 47(1), 155-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2024.2314694
Guirland Duarte, S. M. (2024). Deserción universitaria en estudiantes de postgrado: revisión bibliográfica. Revista Científica Multidisciplinaria Jetypeka, 4(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.64660/jetypeka.v4i1.101
Huerzeler, H. E., Boss, P., & Thoma, M. V. (2025). Addressing the heterogeneity of resilience scales: a systematic review and development of a unified resilience construct within a standardized resilience framework. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2025.2574049
Jibaja Balladares, J. A. (2024). Resiliencia en los estudiantes universitarios: Una revisión sistemática. Revista Tribunal, 4(9), 380-402. https://doi.org/10.59659/revistatribunal.v4i9.85
Jourdan-Ionescu, C., Ionescu, S., Julien-Gauthier, F., Cantinotti, M., Boulanger, S.-J., Kayiranga, D., St-Pierre, L., Kimessoukié-Omolomo, É., Rutembesa, E., Moudio, A.-M., & Nkoum, B. A. (2021). Fostering the resilience of graduate students. In 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd’21) (pp. 889–896). Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd21.2021.13006
López Aguilar, D., Álvarez Pérez, P. R., González Ramos, J. A., & Garcés Delgado, Y. (2023). The development of resilient behaviours in the fight against university academic dropout. Educación XX1, 26(2), 91-116. https://doi.org/10.5944/educxx1.35891
López Aguilar, D., Álvarez Pérez, P. R., Armas Sicilia, A., & González Benítez, N. (2025). Actitud resiliente ante la intención de abandono académico de los estudios de doctorado. Bordón. Revista de Pedagogía, 77(3), 11-30. https://doi.org/10.13042/Bordon.2025.107876
López Aguilar, D., González Benítez, N., Álvarez Pérez, P. R. & García Torres, Y. Y. (2026). Un análisis sobre estrés académico en alumnado universitario de máster con intención de abandonar los estudios. Educar, en prensa, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/educar.2522
Mahsood, N., Mahboob, U., Asim, M., & Shaheen, N. (2025). Assessing the well-being of PhD scholars: a scoping review. BMC Psychology, 13(1), 362. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02668-2
Masten, A. S., Tyrell, F. A. & Cicchetti, D. (2024). Resilience in development: Pathways to multisystem integration. Development and Psychopathology, 35(5), 2103-2112. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423001293
Mensah, F. (2025). The 50 % Tipping Point: Addressing Doctoral Student Attrition through Institutional Innovation. Journal of College Academic Support Programs, 7(1), 50-54. https://doi.org/10.58997/7.1pp1
Mesmer, K. R., Mitra, R., & Buzzanell, P. M. (2024). Graduate students’ resilience and resistance: exploring adaptive-transformative possibilities in higher education. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 52(6), 661–681. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2024.2430278
Peng, P., Yang, W. F., Liu, Y., Chen, S., Wang, Y., Yang, Q., Wang, X., Li, M., Wang, Y., Hao, Y., He, L., Wang, Q., Zhang, J., Ma, Y., He, H., Zhou, Y., Long, J., Qi, C., Tang, Y.-Y., Liao, Y., Tang, J., Wu, Q., & Liu, T. (2022). High prevalence and risk factors of dropout intention among Chinese medical postgraduates. Medical Education Online, 27(1), 2058866. https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2022.2058866
Sallai, G. M. & Berdanier, C. G. P. (2024). Reasons and root causes: Conventional characterizations of doctoral engineering attrition obscure underlying structural issues. JEE. Journal of Engineering Education, 113(4), 1245–1264. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20619
Solís Ventura, J. C., Quiroz Fernández, S., Fosado Téllez, O. (2022). Modelo de regresión logística para la estimación de la deserción escolar del posgrado en la Universidad Técnica de Manabí, Ecuador. Revista Bases de la Ciencia, 7(3), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.33936/revbasdelaciencia.v7i3.5197
Taber, K. S. (2018). The use of Cronbach's alpha when developing and reporting research instruments in science education. Research in Science Education, 48, 1273–1296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-016-9602-2
Ungar, M. (2013). Resilience, trauma, context, and culture. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 14(3), 255-266. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838013487805
Urizar Urizar, E. L., & Pla López, R. V. (2026). Factores asociados a la deserción en programas de postgrado. Educación y Sociedad, 24(1), e9110. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18685084
Valencia Quecano, L. I. (2024). Gestión organizacional en la retención de estudiantes en programas de posgrado: una revisión de alcance. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 9, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-1337
Valencia Quecano, L. I., Guzmán Rincón, A., & Barragán Moreno, S. (2024). Dropout in postgraduate programs: a underexplored phenomenon – a scoping review. Cogent Education, 11(1), 2326705. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2024.2326705
Vélez Bernal, O., Toro Jaramillo, I. D., Gómez Bayona, L., González Ramírez, R. A., & Botero Montoya, L. H. (2025). Evolución de los posgrados en Colombia: deserción e inactivación. Perseitas, 13, 67-108. https://doi.org/10.21501/23461780.4945
Villegas, B. R., & Núñez Lira, L. A. (2024). Factores asociados a la deserción estudiantil en el ámbito universitario. Una revisión sistemática 2018-2023. RIDE. Revista Iberoamericana para la Investigación y el Desarrollo Educativo, 14(28), e671. https://doi.org/10.23913/ride.v14i28.1923
Wang, F., Huang, P., Xi, Y., & King, R. B. (2025). Fostering resilience among university students: The role of teaching and learning environments. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-025-01484-2
Yueying, X., Bingang, Z., & Yuxin, Y. (2023). Psychological resilience in master’s students: Analysis and enhancement. Frontiers in Educational Research, 6(15), 67-75. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2023.061509
Zhou, Y. (2023). A study on the influencing factors of postgraduate dropout intention—Exploratory analysis based on grounded theory. SHS Web of Conferences 174, 01019. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202317401019
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Víctor Hugo González Torres, Juan Carlos Lázaro-Guillermo, Oscar Eliseo Chávez-Chavez, Milton Ricardo Calderon-Pizango
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
CC BY-NC-SA : Esta licencia permite a los reutilizadores distribuir, remezclar, adaptar y construir sobre el material en cualquier medio o formato solo con fines no comerciales, y solo siempre y cuando se dé la atribución al creador. Si remezcla, adapta o construye sobre el material, debe licenciar el material modificado bajo términos idénticos.
OAI-PMH URL: https://fundacionkoinonia.com.ve/ojs/index.php/revistakoinonia/oai.
