Iranian College Students' Academic Identity: A Qualitative Study

The purpose of the present study was conceptualizing college students' Academic identity and identifying the components of it as one of the specific types of the identity, considering the socio-cultural structure and the context of higher education in Iranian society. To achieve this goal, a qualitative research method was used. Participants included 56 individuals (25 male students and 31 female students) who were studying in the fourth to sixth semesters of Ardakan University and sixth to eighth grade M.D. in medical and dentistry at the medical University of Shahid Sadoughi in Yazd. Focus groups were used for collecting data. In two universities, five focus groups were formed. The results of the theoretical coding showed that students' identity was composed of five components: academic commitment, academic self-Concept, future thinking, belonging to university and personal agency, influenced by factors such as basic psychological needs and leads to Numerous concequences such as change in academic self-efficacy and subjective well-being.