Resilience in higher education: the case of accounting students in Brazil

The health and wellbeing of university students is a concern in Australia and internationally (Brewer et al., 2019). Factors such as academic pressure and financial stress can lead to burnout and depression across disciplines such as medicine, law and teaching. One response to this has been increasing research to understand how to build resilience and provide the conditions to help students thrive and remain committed to their profession. This paper examines the situation of accounting students in Brazil where most work full-time during their studies. Managing work, academic and personal life may lead to stress and increase their likelihood of dropping out from university. The present study addresses the follow research question: what factors influence the resilience of graduating accounting students in Brazil? A survey was conducted with 138 graduating students in a Brazilian public university. In our analyzes we created an Index of Stress and Adversity (ISA) perceived by accounting students during the four year course and an Index of Satisfaction and Commitment (ISC) to their accounting career. A resilient student was defined as one who faced higher levels of stress and adversity (high ISA) yet is graduating with higher level of satisfaction and commitment to an accounting career (high ISC). We estimated linear and logistic regressions to explain the important factors influencing accounting students’ resilience. The main results indicate that students who have studied and, at the same time worked more than four semesters during the undergraduate years, have higher level of ISA. On the other hand, students who had already completed a first degree before starting accounting show less stress and adversity. We also found that men presented lower ISC than women. In contrast, students who chose accounting as their first option in the application process and students who attended the course at night show more satisfaction and commitment with an accounting career. We discuss our findings in relation to accounting in Brazil, as well as other disciplines and contexts. The study is relevant to academics and policy makers wishing to develop students’ resilience in higher education, specifically in contexts where students often work and study at the same time as it has implications for their retention and wellbeing.

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. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2019.1626810