Emerging Adults’ Quest for Autonomy; Self-Authorship and Its Impacts on Students’ Academic Productivity in State Universities in Cameroon

This study examined emerging adults’ quest for autonomy; Self-authorship and its impacts on students’ academic productivity in State Universities in Cameroon. A mixed methods research design was used and the sample was made up of 624-year 2 master students of 8 faculties. In selecting respondents and study sites or faculties for the study, a multi-stage sampling technique (purposive, simple random and stratified sampling technique) was used. The instruments used for data collection were a closed ended questionnaire and an interview guide for students. The content validity index was 0.96 and the overall reliability of the instrument was 0.955. Data was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively and descriptive (frequency counts, percentages) and inferential statistics (Chi-Square) were used to analyze quantitative data while qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Spearman rho test was used to establish the relationship between self-authorship and academic productivity of university students. The findings indicated that there was a significant, positive and strong relationship between self-authorship and academic productivity with P-value <0.001, far <0.05. The positive sign of the correlation coefficient (R=0.506**) implied that academic productivity significantly increased with increase in self-authorship. Findings have implications for pedagogic practices as teachers need to establish a friendly relationship with their students and build these officious traits in them. This encourages the active implementation of the student-centered approach to learning in which case the students’ needs and interests are catered for, causing them to develop a sense of belonging, ownership and autonomy in their educational activities. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made to the effect that counselors should caution students, and enlighten them on the need to develop themselves and as well strengthen their belief that their performances can be improved upon their own actions and this will inject in the students an additional effort in their studies.