Meritocracy beliefs and psychological wellbeing of university students

Abstract

Meritocracy beliefs describe the amount of emphasis we place on work ethic and our perspectives surrounding economic mobility. The current study adds to the limited literature focusing on the connection between ideology, economic variables, and psychological wellbeing. The current study hypothesized that meritocracy beliefs would be significantly correlated to wellbeing, and that financial stress would moderate this relationship. This study used a sample of 207 undergraduate student, taking part in an online questionnaire. Results showed that while meritocracy beliefs are significantly correlated with aspects of wellbeing, financial stress had a stronger correlation across the board. Furthermore, financial stress served as a significant predictor, independent of its influence on meritocracy beliefs. These results show that further work must be done to operationalize meritocracy beliefs, as well as expanding research to a more heterogenous sample. Additionally, this work contributes to evidence arguing the impact of financial stress within university environments, and advocates for the expansion of support and resources for students.