Love Affair As a Factor of Academic Achievement of University Students According to Their Own Perception
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Love Affair as a Factor of Academic Achievement of University Students According to Their Own Perception Roksana Parvin* [email protected] Md. Mahmudul Hasan Sagar† [email protected] Abstract The importance of research on love affair and academic achievement is increasing day by day. The present study has been designed to investigate whether love affair and perception towards love affair has any significant impact on academic achievement of university students. To achieve this end, 100 participants were selected conveniently from the University of Dhaka. Among them 51 students had love affair relationship and 49 were single. One questionnaire was used in this study. The t-test, mean and standard deviation were employed to analyze the data. Findings illustrated that there is a significant difference in their obtained academic results (CGPA) between two groups of participants (Affair and Non-affair) but there is no difference in their expected academic results (CGPA). Findings further showed that students’ “perceived impact” (positive/negative) of love affair on academic achievement has significant impact on their academic achievement (CGPA). This study highlights the necessity of increasing awareness among the university students about the impact and perception of love affair on their academic achievement. Key Terms: Love affair, academic achievement, own perception. Introduction A love affair is a sexual or romantic relationship between two persons usually called couple. Love affairs have a strong emotional emphasis. They are emotionally intense and are usually sexually intimate. They may begin as "just talking" and "just having a good time together" and evolve into a powerful bond. When a romantic affair lacks both overt and covert sexual behaviors and yet exhibits intense or enduring emotional intimacy it may be * Lecturer, Department of Psychology, International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), Bangladesh † Lecturer, Department of Psychology, International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), Bangladesh Love Affair as a Factor of Academic Achievement of University Students According to Their Own Perception referred to as an emotional affair, platonic love, or a romantic friendship (Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 2000). One important concept related with love affair is human sexuality. Human sexuality is the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also refer to the way someone is sexually attracted to another person, whether it is to the opposite sex, to the same sex or to either sex, to all gender identities, or not being attracted to anyone in a sexual manner. Human sexuality impacts personal, cultural, political, legal, and philosophical aspects of life. Different experts categorize love differently. In a classic book titled Colors of Love, Lee (1973) defined six varieties of relationship that might be leveled as love: a) Storge (life-long friends): the constructed type of storge love is characterized by rapport, self-revelation, interdependency, and mutual need fulfillment. b) Agapic (totally "thou" centered): an agapic lover is forgiving. This kind of love typically assumes that when the loved one causes pain to himself or herself or to someone else, that he or she is acting in ignorance, innocent error, or is the victim of forces not originating in the love-object’s personality. c) Mania (possessiveness and intense dependency): the ideal type of this lover is obsessed with his or her love object. A manic lover may be unable to sleep, eat, or even think logically around the loved one. The manic lover has peaks of excitement, but also depths of high depression. d) Pragma (logical-sensible): the ideal constructed type identified as pragma is that of a person who is unable to invest love in "unworthy" love objects. The pragmatic lover is keenly aware of the comparison level for alternatives that he or she has. Pragmatic lovers are inclined to look realistically their own assets, decide on their "market value" and set off to get the best possible "deal" in their partners. A pragmatic lover typically assists the loved one to fulfill his or her potentials; for example, such a lover might make sure the love object finishes school, asks for deserved promotions, gets the attention or that he or she "deserves" from physicians, stockbrokers, or employers. e) Ludus (self-centered game player): the ideal constructed type of a ludus lover is that of a person who ‘plays’ love affairs as he or she plays games or puzzles — to win, to get the greatest rewards for the least cost. FENI UNIVERSITY JOURNAL 142 Vol. 01, No. 01, August 2016, ISSN [2518-3869] Love Affair as a Factor of Academic Achievement of University Students According to Their Own Perception f) Eros (romantic): the constructed type of Eros is romantic love. Erotic lovers believe that love at first sight is possible if not mandatory. Falling in love is highly desirable. It is believed to produce an optimum state in the whole mind-body; persons in love feel 10 years younger, sleep well, wake up rested and refreshed. Impotent persons become potent; in-orgasmic persons become orgasmic. Every gland and organ is believed to be operating at maximum efficiency. Perception Perception is the interpretation of any experience or information in meaningful sense. People make decision on the basis of their own perception and it varies from person to person. Perception may be positive or negative and it has great influences on people’s behavior. It is commonly established that perception, self-efficacy, self-monitoring has significant effect on performance. So, in this study it needs to be assessed whether the participants’ own perception toward their love affair has any significant impact on their academic achievement or not. Love Affair and Academic Achievement Academic achievement refers to the performance outcomes that indicate the extent to which a person has accomplished specific goals that were the focus of activities in instructional environments, specifically in school, college, and university. School systems mostly define cognitive goals that either apply across multiple subject areas (e.g., critical thinking) or include the acquisition of knowledge and understanding in a specific intellectual domain (e.g., numeracy, literacy, science, history). Academic achievement as measured by the GPA (grade point average) or by standardized assessments designed for selection purpose such as the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) determines whether a student will have the opportunity to continue his or her education (e.g., to attend a university). University life is one of the most memorable experiences in one's life. It represents a critical developmental period for students’ life. Social factors such as romantic relationships, organizations and clubs, and sports activities have been found to have effects on students' academic performance. Quatman, Sampson, Robinson and Watson (2001) examined the relationship between dating status and academic achievement, academic motivation, depression, and self-esteem and found that dating frequency has negative relationship with academic achievement. Chilman and Meyer (1963) surveyed academic performance of undergraduate married students as compared to the single undergraduates found that married couples received higher CGPA. Married couples were shown to have a goal minded approach to academics. Archival data was studied by Vockell and Asher (1972) in the early seventies that related to high school seniors dating frequency and their FENI UNIVERSITY JOURNAL 143 Vol. 01, No. 01, August 2016, ISSN [2518-3869] Love Affair as a Factor of Academic Achievement of University Students According to Their Own Perception scholastic aptitude, achievement, and school related activities. Future plans of the individuals positively affected their frequency of dating with respect to certain occupational goals. Kopfler (2003) studied the effects of romantic relationships on academic performance and found that romantic relationship has a negative effect on academic performance. Jiang (1972) examined a situation that is wide spread in colleges, namely college love affairs. He argued that it is positive for academic achievement if college students can correctly organize the relationship between college love and study. If handling well, then it may be beneficial and become a great power to college students leading them to success. Throughout the research findings it can be observed that in some studies love affair has a positive relationship with academic achievement but in contrasts some studies showed love affair has a negative relationship with academic achievement. This contradictory issues need to be addressed properly. Majority of the previous studies has been conducted in western societies. Study like love affair and academic achievement has rarely been conducted in collectivistic countries like Bangladesh. Since love affair is very common in Bangladeshi students, it is very essential to know the exact relationship between love affair and academic achievement in the context of Bangladeshi culture. In addition, it is also important to assess whether their own perception towards their love affair has any significant impact on their academic performance. Research Methodology Participants 100 students from the University of Dhaka were conveniently taken as the participants for this study. The participants of this study were categorized in two ways: affair (students engaged