Psycho-Social Factors and Academic Performance among African Women Students at a Predominantly White University in South Africa

Abstract

The present study explored the relationships between Family Environment, Life Stress & Coping Strategies and Academic Performance among African Women Students at a Predominantly White University in South Africa. The students' perception of their family environment was assessed through the Family Environment Scale. Information regarding coping behaviours/preferences and Life Stress was elicited through the self-report measures of Ways of Coping Checklist, and the Life Experiences Survey. Academic performance was assessed through the students' weighted average marks for the year. Socio-Economic Status (SES) and other demographic factors were included in the present study which lends support to the multidimensional models of stress and coping in the investigation of the academic performance of Black students in predominantly White universities. Multiple regression procedures were performed to examine which variables from the Family Environment Scale (FES), the Ways of Coping Checklist (WCC), the Negative Change Score (stress index from the Life Experiences Survey), and demographic variables, influenced academic performance. The findings of the study indicated that variation in students' academic performance was accounted for more by students' background variables than the cognitive factors. In view of these findings the multidimensional approach was proposed as a useful theoretical frame of reference to be used in studies which address themselves to the academic performance of black students in general, and black women students in particular, in predominantly white universities in South Africa.