The Psychosocial Factors of Academic Achievement: Three Different Theoretical Models

Abstract

Within individual factors that affect academic achievement, personality traits have been the least explored eventhough there is evidence that suggest conscientiousness, neuroticism and self-efficacy are direct contributors ofacademic achievement. We used a sample of 725 Mexican public high school students (Mage =18, SDage =1.09,59% female) to test three Path Analysis models based on those proposed by Stajkovic, Bandura, Locke, Lee andSergent, (2018). Although the models present very similar fit statistics and explanatory power, the intrapersonalmodel is more parsimonious, presents better fit indices and was therefore chosen as our final model. The modelidentifies middle school GPA, self-efficacy, neuroticism and conscientiousness as direct predictors of high schoolacademic achievement, and both extraversion and academic self-concept as indirect predictors when mediatedby self-efficacy. Students can use the power of their own self-efficacy beliefs as support for staying in school,boosting their aptitudes and enhancing previously acquired knowledge. We would suggest the addition of stronger correlates to high school academic achievement such as self-control as well as experimental data on how easy cognitions and capabilities can change in the sample.