Economic Pressure and Self-Efficacy as Independent Predictors of Academic Grades and Career Indecision for Southern European Middle School Students: A Confirming Study

Antonio Citarella,Florencio Vicente Castro,Ana Isabel Sánchez Iglesias,Juan José Maldonado Briegas

doi:10.3389/feduc.2020.559465

Antonio Citarella, Florencio Vicente Castro + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.559465

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Abstract

Usingdata from the same sample of previous Citarella's (2018) study, this paper aim to confirm the independent role playing by economic pressure due to Great Recession and self-efficacy in determining educational outcomes for middle school students in Southern Italy context. Additionally, the role of mastery goal orientation was tested for this study. Three basic moderation model were developed using Amos (21) and Process (13.4) for SPSS software to test (1) the moderated effect of self-efficacy in the relationship between economic pressure and outcomes; (2) the interaction between self-efficacy and mastery goal orientation in predicting outcomes; (3) the moderated effect played by self-efficacy plus mastery goal orientation in the relationship between economic pressure and outcomes. Results showed that self-efficacy does not moderated the predicting effect of economic pressure on grades and career indecision. Mastery goal orientation positively interact with self-efficacy in predicting outcomes but the moderated effect of the two added integrated constructs was not significantly. Hence, the independent role of economic factors and agency was confirmed by this study.

Highlights

Educational outcomes outline most of job trajectories and positive life adjustment for youth in the contemporary European knowledge society
Using data from the same sample of 500 middle school students this study aims to deep the work mentioned above in order to confirm or reinterpreting the effect of economic downturn and individual academic agency on educational outcomes
Citarella (2018) highlighted the deleterious effect that economic crisis had on educational outcomes of early adolescents in terms of academic grades and career indecision, and without mediating effect of academic self-efficacy

Summary

Introduction

Educational outcomes outline most of job trajectories and positive life adjustment for youth in the contemporary European knowledge society. Quintano et al (2018) found that students with low educational level and who live in Southern Italy and Isles—where economic rate of poverty and social exclusion is historically and currently high—have significantly more probability to become NEETs if compared with students living in Northern and Central regions of Italy This negative trend raises for female and immigrant students in a hierarchical inequality seeing weakest individuals most penalized by socio-economic and territorial disadvantage further worsened by economic crisis. More attention should be paid to investigate the effect of economic crisis on educational outcomes for early adolescent in Southern European context, because the high vulnerability of these youths to “family stress” due to financial strains (Conger and Elder, 1994) In this regard, in his cross-sectional study, Citarella (2018) analyzed the pathway of influence of exposure to economic crisis on academic grades, career indecision and positive future expectations in a sample of middle school students living in Sicily (Southern Italy). Academic self-efficacy does not mediate the relationships between economic crisis and educational outcomes describing an independent predictive role of the two different levels (societal level and individual level) constructs on educational outcomes

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