Linking Narrative Identity and Learning Dispositions to Enhance University Student Wellbeing

Abstract

As student wellbeing concerns rise in higher education, understanding how students make meaning of their experiences may offer insight into their approaches to learning. This multistage mixed-methods study, combining explanatory sequential and convergent components, investigated how university students’ narrative identity provides insight into their learning dispositions (motivation, engagement, and metacognitive self-regulation). Cluster analysis (N = 485) identified three dispositional profiles that differed significantly across all dimensions, with the exception of anxiety, on which two of the profiles did not differ. Thematic analysis (N = 26) revealed how challenges (mental health, identity struggles, lack of support) and positive reinforcements (adaptive attitudes, supportive relationships, role models) shaped students’ approaches to learning. Multinomial logistic regression showed that narrative identity variables significantly improved the prediction of dispositional profiles beyond demographic and academic indicators. Findings support a dynamic view of learning dispositions as shaped through personal meaning-making, with implications for narrative-informed student support in higher education.