University Honors

The topic of escapism can be described as a self-regulatory process in which Stensengand Rise (2012) define in the context of engaging with an activity as providing a means to copewith “emotional distress by repressing acknowledgment of the stressors causing the stressfulsituation” (p. 19). Arguably, any activity that allows us to postpone tasks and responsibilitiesrelated to our goals is sufficient for being categorized as one of two dimensions of engagement,those being the promotion and suppression motive. However, the concept of escapism and thetwo underlying dimensions have yet to be explored in an academic setting, in particular itspossible influence on academic performance. Thus, inquiry into the topic of escapism and itsrelevance in higher education.The purpose of this study was to identify whether sponsorship of either of the dimensionsof escapism (i.e., self-promotion-based motives, self-suppression-based motives) were related todistinct outcomes on academic achievement (i.e., GPA). The escapism scale was back translatedby Stenseng & Rise and then corrected by the researcher for grammar/punctuation, thusmeasures of well-being and psychosocial factors were implemented into the procedures toreplicate initial correlations as evidence of validity of this adapted scale. This study collecteddata related to emotional regulation, personality traits, attachment style, and expectations ofsuccess that were not previously collected to assess for further psychometric properties of theEscapism scale. In short, this study was exploratory in nature and primarily concerned withacademic achievement as an outcome variable.The adapted version of the Escapism scale used in this study replicated previoussignificant correlations to life-satisfaction in place of well-being. Ultimately, through multiple-linear regression, it was found that neither dimension of the escapism model was significantly related to academic achievement. However, further significant findings related to academicachievement are noted, and implications discussed.