INTRODUCTION

The will to study is a psychological construct that has become an area of research interest, given the diversity of distracting stimuli that can interfere in the academic life of a university student, as are the current technological means, which are within the reach of all^1,2.

The will is a human capacity closely linked to conscience and motivation³. It is a cognitiveaffective state of disposition, related to interests, desires, motivations, decision-making capacity, and autonomy in the regulation of a person's performance to achieve something^4,5.

Every human capacity is a state of readiness or potential to successfully perform an activity⁶. Will, as a psychological capacity, is linked to desire, interest, and intrinsic motivation and strength of self, which allows a person to be persistent and tenacious in achieving a goal or meta^7-9. It is the ability to decide freely, and to make a conscious choice about what the person wants, wants to be and do¹⁰.

The will is one of the basic dimensions of human behavior: it corresponds to the volitional dimension, which involves human consciousness, rationality, thought, and affective traits linked to character and motivation^3,11.

These are indicators of will as a human capacity: the desire or interest to want to do something that attracts you, the positive attitude to want to achieve something, the strength of the self or strength of character, clear and defined decision-making, intrinsic and/or extrinsic motivation and tenacity or perseverance¹².

In a study on the psychological construct of will¹³in which a one-dimensional scale of will to work was developed, using a 21-item questionnaire applied to 1141 second-year psychology students at the University of Buenos Aires, it was found that the will to work was characterized as the attitude by which a person focuses on his/her duties, performing it with responsibility, precision, self-motivation and without delay, even though such obligations may be unpleasant; Likewise, in the research entitled “Delimitación del Constructo Voluntad de Trabajo”, aimed at the construction of an ad hoc scale. They considered that "the will to work was characterized as the attitude by which an individual turns to his duties with responsibility, efficiency, self-motivation and without delay".

This study aims to make a descriptive diagnosis of willingness to study in students of a private university in Lima considering professional career and gender.

METHODS

RESULTS

From the total of participants in the study, we found that the average was 21.71 years, with a predominance of females with 53.81% of the sample. The other characteristics are shown intable 2.

When we obtained the results of the will scale scores for the study by sex, we found that in men the mean was 56.02 and in women the mean was 58.45. The comparison of scores according to the other factors evaluated is shown intable 3.

The results of the Bonferroni post hoc test show that students aged 26 and over scored higher than those aged 20 and 25 (Table 4).

The score on the willingness scale for study according to professional career and academic semester is shown intable 5.

The results of the Bonferroni post hoc test of the ANOVA score of the will scale for the study according to professional career, shows that all differences found between groups correspond to the score of the civil engineering career compared to the other careers. Which corresponds to 0.057; 0.032; > 0.999; 0.341; 0.061; 0.022 and 0.032; for the careers of administration, architecture, biology, law, human medicine, psychology and translation and interpretation respectively. The remaining comparisons between groups showed no statistically significant differences (p> 0.999).

DISCUSSION

Regarding the results considering the variables gender, age, and study careers it has been found that, in relation to gender, it has been evidenced through the statistical tests conducted that female students obtain higher levels of willingness to study than men. These findings show that women are better able to handle most aspects of academic practice. As evidenced by a study of 186 nursing students that despite not finding significant differences between the sexes with respect to the variables studied highlights the ability of women in their management of external influences during their study¹⁵. However, Azañon et al. evaluated 979 Spanish university students and found that males had greater ability to control negative situations, feelings and thoughts¹⁶.

Regarding age, the results obtained have allowed us to find greater differences between younger and older students. Along these lines, Acevedo et al found in a group of Colombian students that the average age for dropping out of university was 22.1 years¹⁷. In addition, engineering students from a university in Bogotá, Colombia demonstrated that they have less ability to handle stress or pressure situations when they are younger, which may lead some to abandon their careers¹⁸.

In relation to the academic semesters, the results have also not demonstrated any significant differences on willingness to study among students of IV, V and VI academic semesters, while according to the professional career of studies were found that students of civil engineering in IV semester have less willingness to study than the rest of the students of different professional careers. This problem among engineering students has always been a difficulty due to the complexity of the subjects taught in relation to other careers¹⁹. However, the use of academic and psychological strategies may represent a choice among these students. This statement was confirmed by Rodriguez Pascual and Martinez Rosillo among engineering students through a group couching course that effectively impacts the academic development of these students as well as their psychological development²⁰.

On the other hand, students of human medicine and translation and interpretation are more willing to study. In the V semester, students of civil engineering show less willingness to study in changes. Those of architecture, psychology and translation and interpretation show greater willingness to study. In the VI academic semester, there were no significant differences between students of different professional careers.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that female students have higher levels of willingness to study than men in the university student population of Lima. Also, civil engineering students had lower scores on the willingness scale for study compared to other majors.