Linking Narrative Identity and Learning Dispositions to Enhance University Student Wellbeing

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.