The Influence of Some Psychological Variables on Academic Achievement of Students in High Schools, the Case of Arsi Zone
No Thumbnail Available
Date
1998-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to find out the joint and relative contributions of
locus of control, achievement motivation future time orientation, and sex to the
prediction of academic achievement of high school students. Moreover, the study
aimed at investigating (1) sex differences in locus of control, achievement
motivation, and future time orientation; (ii) the relation of these variables to the
academic achievements of male and female students; (iii) joint and relative
contribution of these variables to the prediction of the academic achievement in
each sex group. The subjects participated in this study were 303 regular (157
male and J 46 female) students of high schools in Arsi Region. The method used
to sellect the subjects was stratified multi-stage sampling. The instruments
employed in data collection were Children's Nowicki and Strickland lnternalExternal
scale (Nowicki & Strickland 1973), achievement motivation
questionnaire (Hermans, 1970), and future time orientation scale (Gjesme, J 979).
Academic achievement scores of the subjects were secured from rosters. Multiple
regression analysis, t-test, correlation, and correlation difference test were
employed in the nalysis of the data. Accordingly, the result of multiple regression
analysis indicated that locus of control, achievement motivation, future time
orientation and sex have significant joint contributions to the prediction of high
school students' academic achievement. However, further analysis of beta
weights of each variable demonstrated that only sex and future time orientation
have significant relative contribution to the prediction of the academic
achievement of the group. With regard to sex differences in locus of control,
achievement motivation, and future time orientation, t-test revealed nonsignificant
differences between the two sex groups in these variables. According
to the result of the correlation procedure, locus of control and future time
orientation were significantly related to academic achievement of female students,
while achievement motivation was not. On the other hand, non of the three
variables was significantly related to the academic achievement of the male
group; and hence there was no need of carrying out regression analysis for this
group. As implied by correlation coefficients, correlation difference test
confirmed that locus of control and future time orientation were related to the
academic achievements of female students more strongly than to those of male
students. But the strength of relationship between achievement motivation and
academic achievement was not significantly different for both sex groups. The
result of multiple regression analysis on the data of female students showed that
locus of control, achievement motivation and future time orientation had
significant joint contribution to the prediction of academic achievement of this
group. Nevertheless, further analysis of beta weights of each variable revealed
that only future time orientation has significant relative contribution to the
prediction of the academic performances of this sex group. Discussions and
conclusions have been made on the basis of these results. Finally" some
implications were indicated for possible interventions and for further inquiries
Description
Keywords
Arsi Zone High Schools