INVESTIGATING STUDENTS’ BACKGROUND FACTORS AND ACADEMIC SELF-EFFICACY TO PREDICT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC SUCCESS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the predictive power of academic self-efficacy on university students’ achievement as measured by first year GPA (FYGPA)and last year GPA (LYGPA) among 4^th year university students.  It specifically investigates age, gender, and high school location- related patterns of achievement in university based on a randomly drawn sample of 737 (male = 533 and female = 204) from a total population of 5081(male= 3567, female = 1514) students from randomly selected universities from southern Ethiopia. The adapted scale of academic self-efficacy was employed to collect data. Students’ university achievement was measured based on first year and last year GPA. The adapted scale yielded acceptable internal consistency reliability(α=.86). Both convergent and discriminant validities were also shown by checking the composite reliability scores and all AVEs, respectively. Hierarchical and simultaneous multiple regression procedures were used to address the major research questions. The findings revealed that academic self-efficacy was a strong predictor of university students’ achievement. On the other hand, university students’ achievement (FYGPA and LYGPA) was significantly predicted by gender and high school location. Low achievement in university among 4^th year students is associated more with girls than boys, and with students from rural areas than urban areas. But, age has no statistically significant effect on university students’ achievement in this study. Finally, the study outlines the implications of the findings.