Iranian Journal of Medical Education

Introduction: One of the higher education’s goals is to train fine graduates with a healthy and adaptable personality. Moreover, academic adjustment is one of the fundamental and broad issues in psychology. Therefore, in order to identify associated factors, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between metacognitive strategies, academic adjustment and academic performance in students of Qom University of Medical Sciences in 2015.

Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was performed on a sample 303 students in Qom University of Medical Sciences who were selected, in terms of gender, through proportional stratified random sampling from schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing and midwifery, paramedics, health and traditional medicine. Data were collected through O’neill and Abedi’s metacognitive questionnaire and Baker and Siryk’s academic adjustment questionnaire. The data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, independent t-test, and simultaneous multiple regression.

Results: Metacognitive strategies had a positive significant correlation with academic adjustment (P=0.000, r=0.379) and academic performance (P=0.004, r=0.173). There was also a positive significant relation between academic adjustment and academic performances (P=0.000, r=0.306). Results of multiple regression revealed that metacognitive strategies and academic performance would positively and significantly predict academic adjustment and explain around 20% of the academic adjustment variance.

Conclusion: According to the results, there was a correlation between metacognitive strategies, academic adjustment and academic performance. Therefore, teachers should try to teach these skills to students in order to turn them into active and adaptable learners.