Abstract (eng)
Since March 2020, students in Austria have been in home study due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This change brings new challenges for students, which influence their academic success. Various individual characteristics such as self-control or self-efficacy can be significant for academic success in home learning. Students may show inter-individual differences in the application of self-control strategies in their daily study routine. This thesis will focus on the if-then planning as central self-control strategy. The research question of this thesis is: Which interindividual differences do students show in home-learning regarding self- control, self-control strategies, especially if-then planning, and self-efficacy in relation to interindividual differences in their academic success? Specifically, the following hypotheses are examined: (1) Students most often use situational strategies in home learning. (2) there are positive correlations between self-control, self-efficacy, and academic achievement. (3) There is a positive correlation between if-then planning and academic achievement. (4) The relationship between self-control and academic achievement is mediated by if-then planning. (5) The relationship between self-efficacy and academic achievement is mediated by if-then planning. The survey took place via the online platform SoSci Survey. In this process, 409 students (mean age = 24.73, female = 76.3 %, male = 22.5 %, diverse = 1.2 %) were asked to answer different questionnaires: Brief Self-Control Scale, Study-Specific Self-Efficacy, If- then Planning Scale, Subjective academic achievement Scale and the Academic Achievement Scale. In addition, the frequencies of various self-control strategies that students used were determined. Using the frequencies, a correlation analysis and mediator analyses, the hypotheses were partially confirmed. Moderate to strong effects were found between self- control and self-efficacy on students' academic performance. The indirect effects were not significant. These results are discussed below and strengths and weaknesses, as well as implications for future research, are addressed.