PSYCHO-SOCIAL VARIABLES AS CORRELATES OF ACADEMIC RESILIENCE AMONG UNDERACHIEVING SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA BY OLUWAKEMI ABOSEDE AMUWA MATRIC NO: 114550 B.ED GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING/ COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE ARTS (2000), UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN M.ED EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SCHOOL COUNSELLING (2003), UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN. A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, NIGERIA. MARCH, 2015 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY ABSTRACT Most public secondary school students in South-west Nigeria are faced with inadequate emotional, financial and social supports in the home and among peers. Most times, such students are without adequate learning materials, a condition which is not favourable for effective learning and that could hamper academic performance. Despite these challenges, these disadvantaged students still demonstrate willingness and desire to succeed in their academic endeavours. However, factors attributable for academic resilience among these students have not been adequately documented in literature. This study, therefore, investigated the influence of psycho-social variables (academic locus of control, academic self-efficacy, academic intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, parental influence, academic test anxiety, peer influence and study habit) on academic resilience of under-achieving Senior Secondary School (SSS) students in Southwest, Nigeria. The study adopted a survey research design of the correlational type. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted in selecting twelve Local Government Areas (LGA) out of one hundred and thirty seven LGAs that made up the six states in Southwest while sixty public secondary schools were selected from the twelve LGAs. Students‘ cumulative academic performance record (JSS3 and SS1) scores was employed in identifying and recruiting three thousand, two hundred and ninety (males = 1726, x = 14.72, SD = 5.33; females: 1564, x =14.95, SD = 2.37) students. Eight outcome measures were used for data collection: Academic Resilience Scale (α = 0.80); Academic Locus of Control Scale (α = 0.75); Academic Self-efficacy Scale (α = 0.69); Academic Motivation Scale (α = 0.85); Parental Influence Scale (α = 0.86); Academic Anxiety Questionnaire (α = 0.75); Peer Influence Scale (α = 0.81) and Study Habit Scale (0.89). Two research questions were answered and eight hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. Pearson product moment correlation and multiple linear regressions were used for data analysis. The psycho-social variables had a significant joint prediction on academic resilience of under-achieving students (F (8,3281) = 130.924) and they jointly accounted for 23.7% to the observed variance in academic resilience. Academic self-efficacy (β =.34), intrinsic academic motivation (β =.20), extrinsic motivation (β =.056), and parental influence (β =.064) had relative contributions to the prediction of academic resilience, while peer influence, academic anxiety, locus of control and study habit did not. Academic self-efficacy (r =.45), intrinsic motivation (r =.40), peer influence (r =.25), parental influence (r =.23) and extrinsic motivation (r =.22) correlated relatively to academic resilience. However, academic test anxiety, locus of control and study habit did not have any significant relationship with academic resilience. Academic self-efficacy, intrinsic academic motivation, extrinsic academic motivation and parental influence were potent predictors of academic resilience among under- achieving senior secondary students. Therefore, these variables should be taken into cognizance by counselling psychologists, teachers, school administrators and parents in improving students‘ academic achievement. Key words: Academic resilience, Under-achieving senior secondary school students, Psycho-social variables, South-west Nigeria. Word count: 452 ii UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY CERTIFICATION This is to certify that this thesis is an original work carried out by OLUWAKEMI ABOSEDE AMUWA (Matric. No. 114550) in the Department of Guidance and Counselling, Faculty of Ibadan, University of Ibadan under my supervision. ………………………………… Supervisor Prof. Oyesoji Aremu Department of Guidance and Counselling Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. ………………………………… Co-Supervisor Dr M. O. Ogundokun Department of Guidance and Counselling Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. iii UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY DEDICATION I wholeheartedly dedicate this work to the Lord God Almighty who bestowed His grace and strength unto me to successfully complete this programme. To Jesus, my beloved saviour and Holy Spirit, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, I give all the glory. This work also is especially dedicated to my darling husband and mentor, Prince Matthew Folorunsho AMUWA; and to God‘s gifts for us: Feyisayo, Ayodeji and Ayomide (my wonderful children) who gave me moral and emotional support on which this work is reposed. And to my father Baale Ezekiel Jaiyeola Oluokun Oyatobo and late mother Mama Oyedoyin Asabi Oyatobo, your dream and belief in girl-child education had been actualized and realized through this work. Mama, I believe you are sharing in the joy of this accomplished work while you continue to rest in the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ, till we meet to part no more. iv UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS First and foremost, I want to return all the glory and honour to the Almighty God, in whom all knowledge, wisdom and understanding dwell, for making it possible for me to complete this academic endeavour despite all odds. He had given me the privilege to tap into his storehouse of knowledge during this academic pursuit. Blessed be your holy name forever and ever, Amen. My sincere gratitude goes to my able and dynamic supervisor, Prof. Oyesoji Aremu who found time out of his busy schedules to supervise this work right from its inception. His valuable words of advice, encouragement, and painstakingly reading of the manuscript is deeply appreciated. Also, I wish to acknowledge the immeasurable input of my co-supervisor, Dr Moses Oluwafemi Ogundokun; his countless counsel, and inspiring motivations to make this an accomplished task. I must say that passing through these seasoned supervisors had provided me with the zeal and resilience needed in completing this work. I wish to acknowledge other distinguished lecturers in the Department of Guidance and Counselling, who had encouraged and built up my educational foundation from undergraduate to this doctoral level. Many thanks goes to my beloved brother, and Head of the Department; Prof J. O. Osiki for his guidance and words of encouragement. Professors C. B. U. Uwakwe, D. A. Adeyemo, S. O. Salami, A. Hammed and Jibola Falaye (my big aunty); Drs C. C. Asuzu (the Ph. D coordinator), R. A. Animasaun, A. O. Busari, N. M. Ofole, A. K. Taiwo, A. O. Adeyemi, J. O. Fehintola, A. E. Awoyemi, A. A. Owodunni, O. B. Opara, A. M. Jimoh, D. A. Oluwole, and Miss A. Alade all influenced this academic pursuit positively through their fountain of knowledge. I am also highly indebted to Dr K. O. Kester (sub-dean, Post Graduate School) for painstakingly reading through and adding value to the abstract and Dr F. S. Akinwunmi whose timely intervention sped up this work. This acknowledgement will not be complete without making mention of the spiritual in-put of the pioneer pastors of Glory Tabernacle Ministry (my church): Dr and Dr (Mrs) U. Obed, Gen. Pastor and wife: Prof and Dr (Mrs) G. E. Akinbola, Asst Pastor & Mrs Emmanuel Joseph, my beloved elders: Josiah Agbakwuru, Johnson Adewunmi and others in the Glory Tabernacle Ministry, Bodija Ibadan, for their ceaseless prayers v UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY made on my behalf for the speedy completion of this work. Indeed, God heard their prayers by bringing me up to this point. I appreciate all my friends especially Dr Sade Adeyemi, Dr E. I. Chukwuma, Mrs Adeola Oladejo, Omolara Adetifa, Mojisola Olaniyi and others whose moral support and timely intervention propelled me to finish this heinous task. The support I enjoyed from my siblings (Mrs Olufunke Adegboyega, Olujoke Agboola, Mr Oluwakayode Oyatobo, Mrs Oluwafunmilayo Ojo, Mr Olanrewaju Oyatobo) and my step – brother Kolapo Oyatobo is highly appreciated. My sincere appreciation also goes to my uncle and mentor, late Chief Olatunji Timothy Ojedokun who inspired and motivated me to move on in my quest for education. Finally, I express my unreserved appreciation to my beloved husband, Prince Matthew Folorunsho AMUWA; for his moral, emotional and financial support throughout the programme. His wonderful piece of advices and encouragement is also deeply appreciated. My beloved children: Feyisayo, yodeji and Ayomide have been a great source of inspiration and comfort to me during the course of this work. Thank you all for standing by me. vi UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Title Page i Abstract ii Certification iii Dedication iv Acknowledgement v Table of Contents vii List of Tables ix List of Figures x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study 1 1.2 Statement of Problem 6 1.3 Purpose of the Study 7 1.4 Significance of the Study 8 1.5 Scope of the Study 9 1.6 Operational Definition of Terms 9 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW: THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL 11 2.1 Theoretical Review 12 2.1.1 Academic Resilience 13 2.1.1.1 Resiliency Models 13 2.1.2 Academic Locus of Control 29 2.1.3 Academic Self-efficacy 32 2.1.4 Gender 46 2.1.5 Academic Motivation 51 2.1.6. Parental Influence 58 2.1.7 Academic Test Anxiety 62 2.1.8 Peer Influence 65 2.1.9 Study Habits 69 2.2 Empirical Review 70 vii UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2.2.1 Academic Resilience 70 2.2.2 Academic Locus of Control and Academic Resilience 72 2.2.3 Academic Self-efficacy and Academic Resilience 73 2.2.4 Gender and Academic Resilience 76 2.2.5 Academic Motivation and Academic Resilience 84 2.2.6 Parental Influence and Academic Resilience 86 2.2.7 Academic Test Anxiety and Academic Resilience 89 2.2.8 Peer Influence and Academic Resilience 92 2.2.9 Study Habits and Academic Resilience 93 2.3 Conceptual Framework 95 2.4 Research Questions 95 2.5 Statement of Hypothesis 96 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design 97 3.2 Population 97 3.3 Sample and Sampling Technique 97 3.4 Instrumentation 99 3.5 Method of Data Collection 102 3.6 Data Analysis 102 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS 103-110 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.1 Discussion of Findings 111 5.2 Conclusion 123 5.3 Implication of Findings 123 5.4 Limitation of the Study 124 5.5 Recommendations 124 5.6 Contribution to Knowledge 125 5.7 Suggestion for Further Studies 126 References 127 Appendices 146 viii UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY LIST OF TABLES PAGE Table 4.1 Distribution of the Respondents by Gender 103 Table 4.2 Distribution of the Respondents by Age 103 Table 4.3 Correlational Matrix showing the relationships between Independent variables (Motivation, Locus of Control, Peer Influence, Study Habits, Self-Efficacy, Parental Influence and Academic Test Anxiety) on Academic Resilience of Underachieving Students in South-Western, Nigeria. 104 Table 4.4 Composite Effect of Psychosocial Variables on Academic Resilience 105 Table 4.5 The Relative Contribution of the Psycho-social Variables to the Prediction of Academic Resilience of Underachieving Students in South-Western, Nigeria 106 Table 4.6: Correlation matrix showing the relationships among independent variables (Motivation, Locus of Control, Peer Influence, Study Habits, Self-efficacy, Parental Influence and Academic Anxiety) on Academic Resilience among underachieving Students 107 ix UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY LIST OF FIGURE Table 2.1: Conceptual Framework Showing the Relationship between Predicator and Criterion Variables 95 x UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study The prevalent rates of adjustment, struggles and perseverance that students are forced to make owing to different social, economic, psychological and environmental challenges they are exposed to and which pose as hindrances to their academic achievements point to the likely existence of academic resilience. This academic resilience is the internal motivation that allows them to look beyond their immediate challenges and focus on techniques of coping in order to enjoy a much more fulfilling life. Thus, academic resilience is the motivating factor or push that drives an individual to desire success when factors surrounding him/her are not favourable (Christiansen & Christiansen, 1997). Skinner and Pitzer (2012) refer to academic resilience as the ability to cope actively and positively to life conditions, stress, and trauma. Also, academic resilience is the ability to overcome high load of stressful events such as trauma, death, economic loss, disaster, political upheaval and cultural changes; and maintain psychological vitality and mental health (Wilson, 2004; Cavazos, Johnson & Sparrow, 2010). In all the given definitions of academic resilience, two key elements are significant: exposure to adverse or traumatic circumstances and successful adaptation following exposure (Luthar, 2006). These key elements might have influenced why academic resilience is gradually becoming a major focus of research among scholars (Walsh, 2002; Martin, 2002; Oxford & Morpeth, 2003). Academic resilience connotes strength, flexibility, a capacity for mastery and resumption of normal functioning after excessive stress that challenges individual coping skills (Richardson, 2002). Considering the two key elements cited above, average Nigerian students faced with different teaching and learning challenges, either influenced by poor socio- economic factors or the limited funding of the educational sector by the government leading to inadequate teaching resources and teachers in schools, are forced to cope, and make do with limited opportunities in the face of all these risk factors. This act of making do and coping with academic stress to attain success connotes academic resilience in students. Situations such as these have made academic resilience a significant concept in education (Dobbs, 2009). Academic resilience has both 1 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY environmental and biological components that are dynamic and represent the psycho- social variables (the family, socio-economic status, peer group, self-efficacy and so on) that influence students‘ level of academic achievement. Students who are highly academic resilient strive to maintain high grades in school even while faced with challenging situations such as poverty, low socioeconomic status, low self-esteem and efficacy, inadequate locus of control, negative parental and peer influence, poor academic motivation and study habits, and academic anxiety. However, academic resilience in students may not guarantee academic success, if the students lose focus and resolve to apportion blames when faced with unfavourable academic conditions at school leading to truancy and finally drop out of school. Thus, the role of psycho- social variables as correlates of academic resilience among underachieving secondary schools students cannot be over-emphasized. Academic resilience among underachieving students is perceived in their willingness and desire to improve their poor academic achievement regardless of the surrounding negative odds. Underachieving students are students who consistently perform below the specified pass-mark as set by the school that is, students whose academic achievements fall below average in the school. In so doing, they put in extra study hours; ask for assistance from teachers and peers in the school or in the immediate environment while also engaging in other activities that would improve learning and retention. However, motivation is a major variable that influence academic resilience among underachieving students. Academic motivation is the drive that energizes the student to desire success even when academic achievement or teacher/peer assumption of the students points otherwise to the possibility of success. It can be described as the engine that drives academic resilience. Motivation among underachieving students most times stem from the believe that being educated and professionally trained is the only way they can combat the challenges of the socio-psychological factors they are exposed to. (Aydin, 2010). Moreover, for another group of underachieving students, their motivation may arise from the desire to be accepted and loved. They see themselves as unpopular with parents, teachers and friends unless when negative references or examples are made by these significant figures in their lives. What these significant figures fail to understand when trying to point out such students‘ inadequacy is that such action may lead to frustration, aggression, depression and eventual dropout of 2 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY school. In the same vein, class repetition due to poor academic achievement can affect self esteem, self-efficacy and worth. This factor, thus, has been predicted to influence long-term failure and drop out of school (Jimerson & Kaufman, 2003; Garza, Bain & Kupczynski, 2014). In addition to this, high rate of absenteeism and lateness owing to duties and chores that are given to the students at home could lead to tiredness, continuous punishment in the school and thus, affect academic motivation. This would encourage the feeling of alienation in the school environment and influence poor attendance and academic achievement (Barr & Parrett, 2001). The parents are equally considered as another factor in academic resilience. These adults, especially the parents are the student‘s first teachers (Olaogun, 2005; Adeyemo, 2007) and agent of socialization. They provide the primary socialization environment for the students and it is highly important in determining students‘ academic achievement. Their socio-economic state and willingness to provide both emotional and financial support for their children academically determines the students‘ accessibility to teaching and learning resources. This may be the reason some researchers (Raty & Kasanen, 2010) concluded that parental financial state may encourage child-labour- students from poverty-stricken-environments are more likely to be under-achievers since they are exposed to stressful life events. Moreover, parents who do not value the importance of education or have negative experience about schooling could transfer this attitude into their children and weaken their ability to develop academic resilience and strife for academic success. Furthermore, gender is a variable that affects academic resilience; especially the traditional gender stereotype which sees the role of the female as relegated to the kitchen and as home makers. The rate of encouragement given to female students to be academically successful in the home or in most Nigerian communities is lesser compare to their male counterpart. This means that there are certain expectations some families associated to the gender of their children. Thus, children in such homes are reared to fit into the assumed gender stereotypes where the male child is expected to be adventurous, assertive, aggressive, independent and task-oriented, while females are seen as more sensitive, gentle, dependent, emotional and people-oriented (Raty, 2010). With such cognitive understanding, the students tends to work in line with the different role stereotype they have been fitted into where the male is expected to be more academically successful and daring and the female getting along simply to be 3 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY educated in order to become an effective homemaker. This therefore poses as a differentiating factor to the academic resilience exhibited by underachievers. Academic locus of control may be responsible for the exhibition of inappropriate or disruptive school behavior as well as the willingness of a student to desire academic achievement. Locus of control is the inherent belief that everything that happens to an individual is either governed by internal or external factors. Students with internal academic locus of control believe that they are responsible for academic challenges encountered in their educational lives while students with external academic locus of control perceive others as being responsible. For instance, a student who perceives his/her poor academic performance as a result of inadequate studying on his/her part has an internal academic locus of control. Aside this, they utilize their good-nature when interacting with their peers and other adults. They receive positive feedback which helps to reinforce the appropriate communication skills when interacting with others. Studies reveal that academic resilient students with internal locus of control usually have a strong sense of self, challenge themselves by being exposed to an academic curriculum and taking more challenging classes (Condly, 2006; Demirkasimoglu, Aydin, Erodogan & Akin, 2012). The student who sees his/her failure as something determined by the teacher has an external academic locus of control. In the light of this, students with internal academic locus of control are likely to possess a strong sense of academic self-efficacy which could enhance their academic achievements, quality of functioning and personal well-being (Adeyemo, 2007; Diseth, 2011). Students with high academic self-efficacy set themselves challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them; they heighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure and when they fail, quickly recover their sense of self-efficacy (Onabamiro, 2009). However, low academic self-efficacy could influence students to become underachievers. Students with low academic self- efficacy do not have the belief that they can actually study to achieve academic success. This in itself affects their self-worth and belief about their capabilities. To this end they are likely to perceive other students as being superior to them which results in further decline in the long run. This means that self-efficacy is on two sides especially for underachieving students; those who perceive failure as something they cannot overcome and those who develop academic resilience to combat their present 4 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY negative academic condition. Ofole and Okopi (2012) report that students with low academic self-efficacy, low poor academic performance are likely to drop out of school because they may not have the resilience required for success. Therefore, in order for academic resilient students to combat underachievement, they may source for peer support and assistance to enhance academic understanding. This is why peer influence is significant on students‘ academic resilience and academic achievement (Kirk, 2006). Peer influence begins at the very start of formal education since it is the period when most adolescents develop a sense of oneness with one another. Students rely a lot on peer group perception of their worth and achievements while the norm or rule governing their peer group may determine their perception towards academic achievement. On the other hand, peer influence may yield hostility and social isolation from the school environment among some students. This is because some underachieving students may be negatively advised to drop-out of school by their peers or targeted as victims of scorn and labels owing to their poor academic performance. In view of this, interpersonal relationships among students can be assumed to reduce or increase students‘ academic resilience. Study habit of students which is the pattern of reading engaged in by a student to facilitate better understanding of what he/she has been taught in the classroom is also an important variable in this study. A student will perceive repetitious or boring study habit as tasking and difficult and this will have negative effects on his/her academic resilience and achievements. Imbalance study habit exerts direct effect on the student‘s level of recall and the overall academic achievement attained by the student. This will hinder the development of learning behaviours directed at effective learning (Codding, Shiyko, Russo, Birch, Fanning & Jaspen, 2007). Therefore, it is needful for students to understand the study habit that suits their retentive and recall system and try to work with such pattern. Moreover, for most underachieving students with academic resilience, this will serve as a target goal. In as much as the other variables have been considered, most of which are hinged on the students ability to effectively combat fear and anxiety during examination or test. Academic test anxiety is the feeling of fear or threatened academic failure during a test or examination regardless of a student‘s preparation. Condly (2006) explains academic anxiety as the reaction to stimuli that is associated with an individual‘s experience of testing or evaluating situations. Academic test 5 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY anxiety is characterized by intimidation leading to difficulties in concentrating on questions and given appropriate answers during examination. In view of this, various symptoms have been associated with academic anxiety – nausea, frequent stooling, headache, and inability to breath, absenteeism and even pseudo-blindness. However, academic anxiety in small dose gingers students to action and facilitate the exhibition of academic resilience but a chronic dose of it results into psychological and emotional negativity. In view of the fact that education is seen as a tool for political, economic and social development in Nigeria, poor academic performance as evident in constant failures in public examination has become a great concern to all stakeholders. Over the time, researchers have attempted to find out the causes of academic underachievement among students (Olaogun, 2005; Oresanya, 2007; Adeyemo & Adetona, 2007; Onabamiro, 2009; Oludipe, 2009), however, only a few literature available on psychosocial variables as it correlates with resilience to predict academic performance. This study therefore was designed to investigate psychosocial variables as correlates of academic resilience among underachieving secondary schools‘ students in South-west Nigeria. The study is of paramount importance since it tries to give an understanding to why, how and what are the likely risk factors affecting achievements among academic resilience students. 1.2 Statement of the Problem Observation show that there is a high level of academic resilience prevalent among Nigerian secondary schools students. However, daily environmental conditions combating with resilience and underachievement still prevails. This could be so because most students experience inadequate financial and social supports both at home, among peers and in the schools. Most parents cannot afford needed learning materials for students and they are expected to make do with inadequate libraries as those prevalent within the Nigerian school communities. In view of this, such students are denied of teaching and learning at the same pace with classmates who have all the available resource materials. Moreover, some of these students are expected to trade before coming to school and after leaving school, leading to no time or inadequate study period to go over what has been taught. 6 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY In the same vein, teachers are not motivated to teach their students owing to inappropriate instructional materials, irregular payment of salaries resulting in strike actions and other problems faced in the educational sector. Whenever things like these are ongoing, students are left to their fate. Schools sometimes have to mandate the students to provide necessary materials or schools are closed down until a consensus is reached with the educational stakeholders. This does not augur well for the academic system and quality of education students are exposed to. Thus, students are not motivated to pursue academic excellence and perceive schooling as an avenue for professional qualification but as a rite that needs to be accomplished before engaging in trading, hooliganism or teenage pregnancy. Aside the aforementioned, lack of academic resilience among underachievement students could lead to low self-efficacy and self-worth. There is all likelihood for the underachieving students to view dropping out as a more favourable option to resolving their academic confusion and disillusionment. In addition, they unconsciously isolate themselves from peers and teachers and see everyone as a critic ready to condemn them of their poor performance. To cover up for this feeling of inadequacy and hurt, some of them may turn to bullies, or function as a robot caring less about what happen to him/her academically. Unfortunately, some of them grow up with these skewed perceptions about academic attainments and the value of education: a situation which negatively reduce their economic power and literacy level leaving them to live within the poor limits of their achievement and facilitating a continuous cycle of poverty, academic failure, and low self-efficacy for them and their younger ones. Such problems that arise from poor school performance and underachievement have influenced the investigation of psycho-social variables as correlates of academic resilience among underachieving secondary schools‘ students in South-west Nigeria. It can be assumed that an in-depth understanding of these variables is necessary to ameliorate academic underachievement among resilient students. 1.3 Purpose of the Study The main purpose of this study is to investigate psychosocial variables as correlates of academic resilience among underachieving secondary schools‘ students in South-west Nigeria. Specifically, this study investigates the joint contribution of 7 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY the independent variables (motivation, locus of control, gender, peer influence, study habits, self-efficacy, parental influence and academic anxiety) on the prediction of academic resilience among underachieving secondary schools‘ students. In addition to this, it examines the relative contribution of each of the independent variables on the academic resilience of underachieving secondary schools‘ students. 1.4 Significance of the Study Psychosocial variables could pose a lot of effects on secondary schools‘ students‘ academic resilience. A study which encompasses these significant effects is very imperative for national development and individual growth. This study is significant in several ways; it provides an insight into the negative effects which inappropriate planning, implementation of educational policies and budgeting have on the academic performance of secondary schools‘ students. In view of this, this research is very significant for the government at the three levels of federal, state and local councils, as well as appointed educational stakeholders in Nigeria particularly in the implementation of the educational budgets and programmes and the development and organization of educational .curricular for schools. Likewise, the study proffered useful solutions in enhancing the level of academic performance among students who are resilient but are consistently faced with the problems of underachievement. Moreover, it assists in reducing and erasing the stereotypic bias common among some teachers that there are students who would always be chronic underachievers. In other to achieve this, the study would encourage educators to look beyond a student academic underachievement and poor performance but focus on the student‘s need to improve academically. Furthermore, this study also serves as a guide for guidance counsellors, school administrators and teachers in administering effective counselling intervention programmes and creating an enabling environment for teaching and learning. It would make teachers and school counsellors understand that there is need for regular interaction with students in order to facilitate appropriate relationship and encourage a sense of oneness among students and teachers. This is important since students who find self identity and self worth in a school are likely to be motivated to engage more in classroom teaching and learning which would influence academic resilience within them. 8 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY In addition, curriculum planners would find it useful in understanding that a lot goes into designing educational curricula apart from following stated objectives. This is because this study would give them an insight into how best to design syllabus that captures and engages students to use all their cognitive skills, that is, the affective, psychomotor and kinesthetic skills. 1.5 Scope of the Study This study examined psychosocial variables (intrinsic and extrinsic academic motivation, academic locus of control, peer influence, study habits, academic self- efficacy, parental influence and academic test anxiety) as correlates of academic resilience among underachieving secondary schools‘ students only in South-west Nigeria which consists of six states – Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti and Ondo States. 1.6 Operational Definition of Terms For the purpose of this study, the following concepts were operationalized: Academic Resilience: This refers to the capacity of a student to pursue academic success in spite of persistent familial, economic and social challenges to adapt and cope with different psychological and sociological factors to forge ahead. Underachieving students: These are students who consistently perform below the specified pass-mark as set by the school. Psychosocial Variables: This is a concept which depicts combination of the following psychological and social factors which can influence the learners‘ interests and performances in any academic task: * Academic Motivation - the inner-drive which influences a secondary school student to be academically resilient. * Academic Locus of control – an internal and/or external belief which determines students‘ academic resilience and academic achievements in the school especially the academic resilience students. * Peer influence – amount of authority or control classmates, friends or peers exhibit on one another in and out of the school and which could either hinder or enhance the student‘s level of academic resilience of secondary school students. * Study habits – a reading pattern which a secondary school student develop to improve his/her academic achievements. 9 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY * Academic self-efficacy – the perceived capability of a secondary school student which could either hinder or enhance his/her level of academic resilience. * Parental influence – amount of authority or control a parents exhibit on a student‘s academic achievement which could either hinder or enhance the student‘s level of academic resilience especially the secondary school students. * Academic test anxiety – fear or an unexplainable inner sense of failure experienced by secondary school students when faced with testing and examination in school. 10 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviewed relevant literatures both empirically and theoretically. The chapter examined literatures related to the definition and correlates of psycho- social variables on academic resilience among secondary school students. The review of literature includes correlates of psycho-social variables on academic resilience. Theoretical Review 2.1 Resilience 2.1.1 Academic Resilience 2.1.1.1 Resiliency Models 2.1.1.2 Theories on Academic Resilience 2.1.2 Academic Locus of Control 2.1.3 Academic Self-efficacy 2.1.4 Gender 2.1.5 Academic Motivation 2.1.5. Parental Influence 2.1.6 Academic Test Anxiety 2.1.7 Peer Influence 2.1.8 Study Habits 2.2 Empirical Review 2.2.1 Academic Resilience 2.2.2 Academic Locus of Control and Academic Resilience 2.2.3 Academic Self-efficacy Resilience 2.2.4 Gender and Academic Resilience 2.2.5 Academic Motivation and Academic Resilience 2.2.6 Parental Influence and Academic Resilience 2.2.7 Academic Test Anxiety and Academic Resilience 2.2.8 Peer Influence and Academic Resilience 2.2.9 Study Habits and Academic Resilience 11 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2.3 Conceptual Framework 2.4 Research Questions 2.5 Statement of Hypotheses Theoretical Review The problem of underachievement especially among some resilient students has posed a lot of concern in Nigeria (Skinner & Pitzer, 2012). However, this study has shown that it is not just a problem in Nigeria but a universal one. To this effect, various researchers have propounded theories to explain the concept of underachievement and academic resilience. Rutter (2006) considered it as ―positive role of individual differences in people‘s response to stress and adversity‖. What this portends especially for an environment in Nigeria is that resilience is a motivator that gear people to succeed when all odds exists. It is what will make a student living in a slum community go above board to excel and make a better life for him/herself. This could be why the school may be an important place where resilience in young people is enhanced (OCED, 2011). It is an environment where students are faced with competition, challenges and other forms of factors from peers and teachers alike. This then could influence students‘ behavioural attitudes towards studying and achievement. To this end, achievement could be said to define the level of a student academic resilience. Achievement could assume the goal that motivates a student to overcome academic difficulties he/she is exposed to in the school. Roberts and Robins (2004) referred to achievement as the accomplishment of goals by students which meets the expectations they have set for themselves; or those set by their teachers and parents. It may be assumed that numerous factors both extrinsic and intrinsic to students can determine achievement. Intrinsic motivation results from the enjoyment and satisfaction the students get from taking part in an activity while extrinsic motivation are behaviours ‗shaped by rewards from the external environment such as high marks or recognition. However, Perry (2010) opined that each person will differ in their need for ‗cognitive stimulation depending upon personal experiences and making. To him achievement is based upon hereditary traits, perseverance and the need for accomplishment. 12 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2.1.1 Academic Resilience Resilience has been described as a protective mechanism that modifies an individual‘s response to a risk (Rutter, 2006) or as adjustment despite negative life events. It is a positive role of individual differences in people‘s response to stress and adversity. Resilience can be associated with individual variation in response to risky conditions such as stressful life events, exposure to community violence, maltreatment, poverty, divorce and maternal mental illness. These may have brought sharper attention to the social factors that influence stress resistance in secondary schools students. As such, there has been substantial focus on resilience in terms of broader life event, such as, resilience to disadvantaged background, poor parenting, family breakup, mental illness, drug addiction and others (Luthar & Brown, 2007; Masten, 2007). However, studies on academic resilience focuses more on students‘ mental health and wellbeing rather than academic development. Other conceptualization of resilience views it as an adaptive response to extraordinary challenges (Caffo & Belaise, 2003). These extraordinary challenges can be separated into general and personal categories. In the general category are stressors that affect everyone in a community, such as war or earthquakes. Personal stressors are those specific to a particular family or individual, such as death or divorce. In addition, multi-risk situations as well as psycho-biological (Southwick, Litz, Charney, & Friedman, 2004) and socio-cultural influences have been analysed to understand the nature and dynamics of resiliency. Thus, academic resilience reflects a pattern of competence and self-efficacy in the presence of extraordinarily difficulties in academic achievements. This is a view reflected in Coskun (2010) which explained that competent performance indicated positive beliefs about self, task performance, and problem solving. In this regard, areas of personal competence extend to the successful mastery and ability to cope with traumatic stressors as trauma invariably taxes coping resources (Martin & Marsh, 2008). On the other hand, chronic, excessive stress imposes demands for coping and can lead to health problems (Schnurr & Green, 2004). In analyzing these variables, research evidence suggests that competence is related to use of psycho-social resources (Caffo & Belaise, 2003). In brief, resources to develop competence are less prevalent among children growing up in adversity. Competence does develop, however, with sufficient resources even if there are chronically severe stressors prevalent. Research has shown that adolescents with 13 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY maladaptive behaviour tend to be overly reactive to stress and have a history of low resource utilization and lack competence in coping with stressor demands (Martin & Marsh, 2008). Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of stress such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or work place and financial stressors. It means ―bouncing back‖ from difficult experiences (APA Health Center, 2004). Resilience refers to the concept that even in situations of multiple risk to an individual‘s development, there are certain qualities within the individual or his/her environment that allow him or her to deal with these risks and thrive in spite of them (McKenna, Hollingsworth, & Barnes, 2005). Some children from poor family background are resilient. That is, they have positive thoughts and score higher on intelligence tests than might be expressed; given the level of social and economic status they are exposed to (Kim-Cohen, Moffitt, Caspi, & Taylor, 2004). This supported Bostock‘s (2004) statement that resilience is the quality that cushion vulnerable child from the worst effects of adversity and that may help a child or young person to cope, survive and even thrive in the face of great hurt and disadvantage. In this context, academic achievement can be said to define the level of a student‘s academic resilience. This is because achievement can be assumed to be the goal that motivates a student to overcome academic difficulties he/she is exposed to in the school. Roberts and Roberts (2004) referred to achievement as the accomplishment of goals by students which meets the expectations they have set for themselves; or those set by their teachers and parents. Students‘ performances are evaluated against a set of criterion or some standard of excellence (McDonald, 2009). Numerous factors both extrinsic and intrinsic to students can determine achievement. While intrinsic motivation results from the enjoyment and satisfaction the students get from taking part in an activity, extrinsic motivation are behaviours shaped by rewards from the external environment. Such extrinsic rewards can be seen in the form of high marks or recognition. These results can reinforce existing behaviours, improving feelings of self worth and competence and provide the students with information about their performance. According to Perry (2010), each person will differ in their need for ‗cognitive stimulation‘ depending upon personal experiences and making. 14 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Hence achievement is based upon hereditary traits, perseverance and the need for accomplishment. A general understanding of the term resilience and achievement led to theoretical attempts to explain academic resilience. Waxman, Gray and Padron (2003) believed that attending a school that is considered an ―at risk‖ school can be considered an adverse situation, arguing that educational or academic resilience must be present for some young people to succeed. Werner (2006) defined educational resilience as the ―heightened likelihood of success in school and other life accomplishments despite environmental adversities brought about by early traits, conditions and experiences. This means that the problem a student is confronted with may also contribute to his academic achievement depending on how the student is able to cope with the problem. Wright and Masten (2006) defined educational resilience as the heightened likelihood of success in school and other life accomplishments despite environmental adversities brought about by early traits, conditions, and experiences. Kelly, Schneider and Carey (2010) defined academic resilience as a student‘s ability to overcome academic setbacks, stress and study pressure associated with school. Winslow, Sandler and Wolchik (2006) described academic resilience as an individual‘s recovery from low performance and alienation rather than individuals in an ―at-risk‖ group such as low income students. Thiessen (2008) described educational resilience as the heightened likelihood of school success and other life accomplishments despite adversities. Characteristics of academic resilience included high participation in school, strong interpersonal skills (Winslow, et. al., 2006), high self esteem and self efficacy, high expectations, and autonomy (Wright & Masten, 2006). In all, resilience has been defined as the process of capacity for outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstance in the academic context, it is defined as ability to deal effectively with academic setbacks stress and study pressure. Few studies that deal with academic resilience are focused on ethnicity, minority groups and extreme underachievers (Shortt, Toumbourou, Chapman & Power, 2006; Thiessen, 2008). Others work on academic resilience focuses on historically disadvantaged low socio-economic status of some students and parents (Spencer, Noll & Cassidy, 2005). Thus, it can be assumed that most secondary schools students at the grass-root tend to be affected by poverty and other risk factors 15 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY with a greater frequency than their much favoured peers. Some secondary schools students who are underachievers are faced with problems of inability to pay school fees as at when due or buy needed school resources which would make learning and studying easier. What this portends is that many of these students are sent out of the classroom during lessons, tests and examination periods. This reveals that academic resilience may be associated with the potential discontinuity, or ―lack of fit‖, between the behavioural patterns and values socialized in the context of low-income and poor families and communities and those expected in the mainstream classroom and school context (Stewart, Sun, Patterson, Lemerle & Hardie, 2004; Small & Memmo, 2004; Winslow, et. al., 2006). For instance, Nunez, Sparks and Hernandez (2011) argued that because African Americans have had limited opportunities in America, they developed an ―oppositional‘ culture that equated doing well in school with ―acting White‖ or ―selling out.‖ Therefore, individual characteristics, school characteristics, and the interactions between individual and school characteristics all may contribute to a student‘s risk of academic failure. Low-income and poor socioeconomic status have really contributed to failures among some of these secondary schools students and made them academic underachievers despite their academic resilience. End result is that they are made to repeat classes and sometimes become a scorn among their classmates who suddenly see themselves as their seniors in the school. Patal, Cooper and Wynn (2010) described resilience as the ability to respond actively and positively to life conditions, stress, and trauma. To this end, they believed that it is important not only to identify the characteristics of academic resilience among secondary schools students, but also obtain knowledge on the etiology of academic resilience among secondary schools students as a means of understanding the psychosocial variables that contribute to underachievement. To do this, it is vital to analyze the context in which underachievement among secondary schools students develop, such as the role of the family, community, socioeconomic status and environment. Individual characteristics of academic resilient students typically include an internal locus of control, high self-esteem, high self-efficacy, and autonomy (Winslow, et al, 2006). Aside this, academic resilient students are actively engaged in school have strong interpersonal skills, maintain healthy expectations, and have a high level of activity (Bernard, 2004). As such, it can be concluded that 16 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY secondary schools students who are academic resilient have perseverance, strong will, and a positive disposition to life‘s transitory events. Resiliency Models Researchers who view resilience from an ecological perspective argue d that it is a quantifiable phenomenon of normative development and can be tested empirically via series of statistical procedures and analyses (Becker & Luthar, 2004; Borman & Overman, 2004). Several models of resilience were developed and these models tested interactions between risk and protective factors and how they related to the outcome of interest (Shortt, et. al., 2006). However, three major models of resilience are; compensatory model, risk-protective model and the challenge model. The Compensatory Model suggested that risk factors have independent and direct effects on increasing a negative outcome while protective factors counteract or neutralize the effects of risk by having a direct effect on the outcome (Pietsch & Williamson, 2010). It is a model in which protective factors interact with risk factors to produce a buffering effect that can dampen or amplify the impact of the risk factors on the outcome (Masten, 2007). The Risk-Protective Model, sometimes referred to as ―Buffering Model‖ (Fitzpatrick, 1997), ―Moderation Model‖, or ―Multiplicative Model‖ (Masten, 2007), is the most widely studied model in the literature (Zimmerman & Arunkumar, 1994) In this model, protective factors interact with risk factors to produce a buffering effect that can dampen or amplify the impact of the risk factors on the outcome (Masten, 2007). That is, a protective factor moderates the effect of the risk factor on the outcome of interest. Due to this interaction between risk and protective factors, this model suggests that protective factors have a greater effect on the outcome at one particular level of risk than other levels of risk. Statistically, the risk-protective model is tested in the regression analysis by adding an interaction term to the equation. This model is supported when the interaction effect of the risk and protective factors is significant in the regression equation. It is important to note that the Risk-Protective model outlines a different relationship between risk and protective factors than the compensatory model. In the interactive model, protective factors have an indirect effect on the outcome through risk factors (they buffer the effects of risk on the 17 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY outcome) while in compensatory model, protective factors directly affect the outcome and independently compensate for the effects of risk factors. The Challenge Model, also referred to as ―Inoculation‖ or ―Steeling Model‖ (Rutter, 2006), suggested that a moderate amount of risk exposure is more beneficial than no exposure to risk in reducing the negative outcome (Masten, 2007). That is, certain levels of risk factors function as potential enhancers of the positive outcome variable. Zimmerman & Arunkumar (1994) argued that, moderate, rather than a low or high level of risk may be a ―protective‖ factor since moderate risk provides a challenge for the individual: the challenge is not easy, but is possible to overcome. This model claimed that once the challenge is met, one has the potential to strengthen his/her competence to prepare for the next difficulty (Zimmerman & Arunkumar (1994). This model is rarely tested in the resiliency literature since researchers typically focus on functions of protective factors, whereas primary concern of challenge model is the effect of different levels of risk on outcome (Masten, 2007). Due to the differential effects of risk exposure, the ideal way of testing the challenge model of resiliency is utilizing longitudinal data. Zimmerman & Arunkumar (1994) suggested assessing the challenge model using path or structural equation modeling in a longitudinal dataset so that the developmental trajectories of the individual under changing levels of risk can be examined. However, early resiliency researchers proposed that the challenge model can be tested via hierarchical regression analysis in cross-sectional data. According to that recommended analysis, the challenge model is tested by adding a quadratic term of risk factors (interaction of risk and risk factors) in the regression equation. Since the model implies a curvilinear relationship between risk and outcome variables, statistical significance of this quadratic term supported the model (Pianta, Hamre & Allen, 2012). It is important to note that the models of resiliency were not mutually exclusive (Masten, 2007). That is, a protective factor might compensate for a risk factor in predicting an outcome, whereas the same protective factor might interact with a risk factor to have a different effect on a different outcome. Thus, different effects of risk and protective factors on a given domain are crucial since the implications could be different for subpopulations of underachieving students. This situation which best describe the kind of exposure an average students in Nigeria faces where family problems, communal discord and 18 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY other societal problem prevails but which despite this still becomes successful academically and career wise. Theories on Academic Resilience The background of resilience research can be assumed to be founded mostly on high risk individuals. To this extent, academic resilience may be assumed to exclude individuals from averagely supportive care-giving environments. However, Benard (2004) believed it is essential that the supports and opportunities that represent protective factors of individuals facing a difficult situation apply equally to all individuals. Literatures have mentioned that resilient individuals are able to bond with a nurturing or mentoring adult who can help them develop healthily (Thomsen, 2002; Condly, 2006; Codding et al, 2007). This study therefore is anchored on two major resilience theories, Kumpfer (1999); and Boyd and Eckert (2002). Karol Kumpfer (1999) Resilience Process Model Karol Kumpfer‘s resilience model was described in Kumpfer (1999).The ,model consisted of four main areas of influence and two areas of transactional processes, making up six major predictors of resilience (Kumpfer, 1999).The model began with an initiative event, which is a stressor or a challenge. This signified the disruption in homeostasis of the individual or the environment and called for a resilience integration to maintain the stable equilibrium of the individual or environment (Kumpfer, 1999). The initiating event marked the beginning of the resilience process and the process ended with an outcome, which may constitute either resilience reintegration or non- resilience. The six major predictors of resilience were: * The stressors or challenges * The environmental context * The person-environment transactional process * The internal resilience factors or individual characteristics and outcomes of interactions * The resilience process or the area of transaction between the individual and the outcomes * Adaptive, resilient reintegration or maladaptive, non-resilient reintegration. 19 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY The Stressors or Challenges According to Kumpfer (1999) resilience process began with an exposure to stressor, demands and challenging situation that compelled an individual to develop strength and grow from such experiences and cope successfully with the negative events (Kumpfer, 1999). In most literature, overcoming major stressful event is seen as a precursor to resilience development. Different studies (Winslow et al, 2006; Stewart et al, 2004), regarding the lives of troubled children from troubled environments included major stressful events like poverty (unemployment), parental death, psychopathology and violent environments. It is essential to note that what one student experiences as a minor stressor can be interpreted as major stressors by others. This however, depends on the level of protective factors available in the environment and the student perception and cognitive evaluation of the problem (Kumpfer, 1999; Lewis & Frydenberg, 2002). Haan and Wissink (2013) further maintained that the intensity of a student‘s emotions is stressor-specific and affects the coping strategy of the student. Through perception and cognitive evaluation, students are able to interpret whether the level of academic stress they are exposed to is threatening or unpleasant and can affect their academic achievements. The Environment Context According to Kumpfer (1999), the social environment of a student is extremely important in the academic resilience process. This is because it influences the development and socialisation of the student while serving to either cushion or intensify the impact of stressful and challenging events on the student. Academic resilient students even in high-risk social environments manage to find some support that will ensure them adequate opportunity for a positive and healthy academic development. The support and nurturance that students receive from caring families, communities, schools and peer group members enable them to acquire positive and healthy socialization skills important to their academic achievement. The student‘s social environment is able to provide the following support to enhance the academic resilience process: * Effective teaching, advice, a sense of connectedness, family cohesion, good parenting styles and values, positive role modelling, effective supervision and discipline. 20 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY * Opportunity for meaningful involvement, empathy and emotional nurturance, pro-social peers (as opposed to antisocial) and social support, a sense of autonomy and self-worth. Person-Environment-Transactional Process The level of stress that students experience is subject to their own interpretation through individual perceptions and cognitive evaluation. The transactional process reconciles the social environment and the individual (Kumpfer, 1999). It also explains different strategies the students implement to adapt and modify the environment in order to reduce environmental risk factors. These include using selective perceptions, cognitively reframing, changing of the environment and actively coping Kumpfer (1999): a summation that may have contributed to resilience, researchers‘ (Winslow et al, 2006; Shortt et al, 2006; Spencer et al, 2005) assumptions that internal resilience factors like temperament are precursors to resilience. Kumpfer (1999) mentioned that certain temperamental characteristics in students tend to either evoke social support and nurturance or foster rejection by the social or school environment. It is based on this reason the resilience framework of Kumpfer indicated that the interactional processes, which empower students to reduce the effect of stressors, challenges and demands should include seeking and identifying with pro-social elements in the school environment and facilitating relationships with positive role models and mentors. In the same vein, it should also be characterized by: * The need to change the risky school environment by either migrating or seeking the company of pro-social peers or students in school environment who will serve as protective factors. * Students seeking improved academic performance and positive school adaptation to identify with seniors/peers who provide positive role modelling, advice, nurturance, support, structure, discipline, supervision, and create opportunities for effective and meaningful teaching and learning. Internal Resilience Factors The internal resilience factors form the core resilience traits of each student. They include the spiritual, cognitive, social and behavioural, emotional and physical 21 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY strengths, competencies and characteristics that are essential for the success of individuals in their social environment and for achieving developmental tasks (Kumpfer, 1999). The five areas of competencies and strengths cited by Kumpfer (1999) include; The Spiritual competencies The spiritual competencies are composed of motivational qualities of resilience including the belief system which motivates the individual to maintain focus and success in life. According to Kumpfer (1999), the spiritual characteristics include the following: * Dreams and goals, which offer resilient students the ability to create fantasies for themselves * Existential meaning in life (resilient students are able to cope and survive stressful situations as they believe that they have a mission to accomplish a purpose to fulfill and problems to solve). * The spirituality of families and individuals offers predictive positive life adaptations. Religious beliefs have been found to offer anchor, stability and a sense of community. Resilient students find healing through helping and caring for others. * Belief in the uniqueness of oneself and independence, internal locus of control, hopefulness and optimism, a sense of powerfulness, and the ability modify negative life circumstances. According to Gale, Batty and Deary (2008), locus of control is stable and affects individual behaviour across situations. Caregivers who exercise ultimate control over their children foster an external locus of control, which is associated with powerlessness. Gale et al (2008) mention that adolescents with internal locus of control demonstrate social adjustment, high self-esteem, empathy and sometimes self-blame, e.g. individuals might blame themselves for the exposure to abuse, but not the abuse itself. Internal locus of control is influenced by nurturance, consistency, positive involvement, acceptance and approval and support. Poverty might lead to external locus of control through greater expectations (Gale et al, 2008). 22 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY * Determination and perseverance-resilient students are practical, street smart, flexible and posses the ability to formulate new or alternative plans when in a predicament. The Cognitive Characteristics The cognitive competencies help individuals to achieve their dreams and goals (Kumpfer, 1999). Academic resilient students are achievement oriented and tend to perform better in their academic activities and homework; they are found to possess higher intellectual and academic abilities than non-resilient students. Students who are motivated and achievement oriented are building for themselves a pathway to future employment and life success (Kumpfer, 1999). According to Kumpfer (1999) the cognitive competencies included the following: * Higher intellectual and academic abilities and achievement orientation. However, Werner and Smith (2002) stated that academic resilient students are not unusually gifted nor do possess an outstanding scholastic aptitude but they have a strong need to achieve. * The ability to delay gratification to achieve success. It is essential to indicate that reluctance to delay the gratification of needs and external locus of control cause even intelligent students to underachieve. * High moral reasoning, good judgment, compassion, fairness and decency. Academic resilient students have personal insight and are able to judge their strengths and weaknesses. They are aware from early on that they are different in strength to their parents and siblings. * Insight and intrapersonal reflective skills and adaptive distancing that enable them to distance themselves successfully from maladaptive coping skills observed in their school environment. * High self-esteem and the ability to restore self-esteem by overcoming stressors innovatively. Academic resilient students are creative, able to plan and make choices. The Behavioural Characteristics The behavioural and social domain, (unlike the cognitive competencies which entail thought and talents), requires a display of behavioural actions and social skills 23 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY to accomplish dreams and goals. According to Kumpfer (1999), the behavioural competencies are characterised by: * Social skills and being street smart, which require students to function effectively in different environments and have problem-solving skills, communication skills and the ability to resist peer pressure. The problem- solving skills enable the students to be flexible, creative and original. * Empathy and interpersonal social skills in interactions. Academic resilient students possess engaging personality, are responsible and willing to care for others, are polite, have good listening and communion skills and are empathetic to the need of others. They have positive temperaments. The Emotional Characteristics The emotional skills and characteristics of academic resilient students include the ability to manage their emotions. Kumpfer (1999) listed the following as examples: happy students who are hopeful, positive and optimistic about life. They sometimes use humour to reduce stress and tension and to maintain stable social relationships. They have faith that the odds can be beaten and tend to adopt a positive attitude towards life. They are aware of their emotions and can control their feelings, e.g. anger, fear and depression. According to Goldstein and Brooks (2006), humour is related to positive adaptation, emotional and cognitive adjustment, effective coping, and social competence and it enhances the quality of social engagement and transactions. Humour can be used to cope with fear, anxiety and problems. However, Lewis and Frydenberg (2002) warned against the use of humour and denial as coping strategies, as much as they can be helpful in releasing tension or avoiding catastrophic events, denying the severity of the problem might also lead to avoidance of appropriate action which relates to ignoring or accommodating the incident. The Physical Characteristics According to Kumpfer (1999), physical characteristics of the internal resiliency factors included a talent for spots, physical attractiveness and good health. * Healthy students can internalise their strengths and interpret themselves as physically and psychologically strong. 24 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY * Students with sports, talents and accomplishments including arts and culture are mostly valued in their social environment. Such students feel connected and supported through their achievements and involvement in physical activities and the pursuit and recognition of their talent, leading to increased feelings of self-efficacy and self-worth. * Physical attractiveness, charm and social skills also increase positive life adaptations. Attractive students are more liked and valued by their teachers and they easily attract the attention of other teachers. The Resilience Process The academic resilience process includes the interaction between the internal resilience factors of the students, the school environment and the level of academic achievement. The aim is to manage the procedures that are essential in nurturing and developing academic resilience among underachieving secondary schools‘ students. According to Kumpfer (1999), it is not enough to identify the risk and protective factors in the student‘s environment, but it is also important to know how to recognise and discover the talents and assets of each student to encourage academic resilience to develop. Building academic resilience in students include modifying their school environment and providing them with support, nurturance and empowering them with coping skills to overcome academic stressors (Kumpfer, 1999). Academic resilient students have the ability to recover and bounce back after academic underachievement or stressful events. Thus, developing academic resilience in underachieving students is a method of enhancing their academic achievement in the school. Academic resilient outcomes occur even when individuals fail to overcome underachievement or stressors but manage to develop stronger self-efficacy and belief (Kumpfer, 1999). In Grant, Compass, Stulmacher, Thurm, McMahon and Halpert (2003) words, effective coping occurs when there is a good fit between the stressors, challenges and demands, and the available protective factors; in this regard, a ‗good fit‘ occurs when: * The stressors and demands fit with each student‘s capacity to meet them * The student has personal resources to cope effectively. 25 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY * The school environment provides appropriate supportive and evaluative feedback. Kumpfer‘s Resilience Process Model illustrated the outcome of the resilient reintegration process as follows: * Resilient reintegration occurs when the student has achieved a higher state of resilience and strength. * Homeostatic reintegration occurs when the student maintains the same state of resilience as before the introduction of stressors or challenges. * Maladaptive reintegration occurs when exposure to stressors and challenges results in the student maintaining a lower state of reintegration. * Dysfunctional reintegration occurs when exposure to stressors, demands and challenges results in a major reduction in positive reintegration. There is a decline towards negativism. During the academic resilience process, stressors and challenges that the student is exposed to and which are not buffered by external and internal protective factors, disturbs the equilibrium or homeostatic state of the student. When a student is experiencing tranquility, peace and ‗crisis-free‘ moments, when life seems predictable and stable, then the student is in equilibrium, homeostatic or comfort zone (Kumpfer, 1999; Boyd & Eckert, 2002; Johnson & Howard, 2007). Boyd and Eckert (2002) mentioned that disruptions and chaos are part of life and they can push a student to reintegrate to different zones as illustrated in both models. The resilient reintegration is a better state that suppresses the ‗homeostatic, equilibrium or comfort zone. Boyd and Eckert (2002) Resilient Reintegration Resilience reintegration model of Boyd Eckert (2002) is similar to Resilience Process model of Kumpfer (1999). To Boyd and Eckert (2002), the comfort zone, known as homeostatic reintegration or homeostasis in Kumpfer‘s (1999) model indicated a stable and predictable state. Every student is presumed to have developed protective factors (learned characteristics or strategies from previously coping with stressors or internal traits and environmental factors) in order to maintain learning and adaptation in the comfort zone; disruption and change through stressors and demands is not appreciated and encouraged by the student. However, according to Boyd and 26 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Eckert (2002), stressors create disruptions in the comfort zone and compel the student to reintegrate to any of the following zones. * Resilient zone: a better zone that suppresses the comfort of homeostatic zone, the student becomes greater than previously. * Comfort zone: Returning to the previous state before disruptions. An indication that the student has not learned from experiences and can again experience similar events with the same intensity. * Reintegration with loss. Dysfunctional, becoming victims of underachievement by never recovering fully from academic failure. The student‘s life tends to be empty, with loss of hope and enthusiasm to succeed academically. This view was reiterated by Johnson and Howard (2007); while Kumpfer (1999) argued that a student is in equilibrium when not affected by stressors, and when exposed to stressful demands, disequilibrium sets in, initiating resilient reintegration. According to Boyd and Eckert (2002), resilience reintegration is not an easy process because of the instinct for self-renewal, the comfort in preserving what is already known and a student is comfortable with; this leads to a comfort zone or homeostatic state as the most preferred state to return to after disruptions by stressors or demands in the environment. Resilience reintegration is characterized by: * Self-organization and transformation because it elevates the student to a higher level than previously; their discussion indicated that the student who reintegrates to this level becomes ‗greater by learning, developing, gaining deeper insight, understanding, and becoming stronger, more knowing and resilient‘ (Boyd & Eckert, 2002). Resilient reintegration enables students to become richer and stronger after experiencing major stressors or underachievement in their lives and to learn and grow through experiences. * Optimism and hope; a choice to learn and grow from experience. The ability to cope with stressors depends on the student‘s coping skills; some students have developed positive coping skills while others manifest negative coping strategies. Some students may withdraw, lash out or seek comfort in others. Students who have developed coping skills are able to overcome stressors and bounce back, but some students struggle with coping, they employ negative coping strategies and are unable to bounce back from stressful experiences. 27 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Johnson and Howard (2007) further supported Kumpfer‘s model by affirming that the transactional process between the student and the environment creates an atmosphere for academic resilience to occur. Academic resilience is a personal negotiation through the risk and protective factors available to the student. When the student perceives things to be normal or OK in the school (internally and externally), the status quo is not disturbed; the student is in a state of equilibrium or homeostasis. The introduction of stressors will set the academic resilience process in motion, causing the student to move between stages. The transaction between the student and the school makes resilience to occur. To this end, it can be assumed that academic resilience occurs after the student has overcome stressors by drawing on available resources in the school coupled with the internal personal characteristics to cope and overcome underachievement or stressors. The academic resilient student is able to cope and to reintegrate his or her homeostatic zone after academic adversity where they view their lives as normal and OK. However, if the student is unable to return to the homeostasis zone, he or she develops unhealthy coping strategies and displays non-resilience. Benard (2004) stated that students who are doing poorly, for example, struggling with chronic conflicts, violence, low self-esteem, delinquency and substance abuse (demonstrate serious behaviour and academic problems), are non-resilient. A fact that may have made Luthar and Brown (2007) refer to academic resilience as not a fixed attribute. It is a dynamic concept and the protective factors modify the response to stressors or risk factors. The continuous interaction between the student‘s internal academic resilience characteristics and the school enable the academic resilience process to develop. Benard (2004) cited personal strengths that aid the development of resilience as: * Dynamic personality traits which transcend gender and culture. * Contextual assets that can be deficits if not well balanced. * Strength that students can use for survival when driven by intrinsic motivation to meet basic psychological need The academic resilient personal strengths develop in students when families, schools and communities create opportunities for them. Further personal strengths cited by Benard (2004) include: 28 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY * Social competence: responsiveness, communication, empathy, caring, compassion, altruism and forgiveness. * Problem solving: planning, flexibility, resourcefulness, critical thinking and insight. * Autonomy: positive identity, internal locus of control, initiative, self-efficacy, mastery, adaptive distancing, resistance, self-awareness, mindfulness and humour. * Sense of purpose: goal oriented achievement motivation, educational aspirations, special interests, creativity, imagination, optimism, hope, faith, spirituality and sense or meaning. Thus, this study is anchored on Kumpfer (1999) and Boyd and Eckert (2002) theories which explained resilience as a coping mechanism developed by individuals to manage and adapt to socio-psychological stress. These are stresses which affect their performance but are perceived as challenges to move to a higher level or better position in life. 2.1.2 Academic Locus of Control Academic locus of control refers to a student's generalized expectations concerning where control over subsequent academic events resides. In other words, who or what is responsible for what happens in my academic achievements. Expectancy, which concerns future events, is a critical aspect of academic locus of control. According to Lynch, Hurford and Cole, (2002) academic locus of control is grounded in expectancy-value theory, which describes human behavior as determined by the perceived likelihood of an event or outcome occurring contingent upon the behavior in question, and the value placed on that event or outcome. More specifically, expectancy-value theory states that if (a) someone values a particular outcome and (b) that person believes that taking a particular action will produce that outcome, then (c) they are more likely to take that particular action (Lynch et al, 2002). Another earlier view of locus of control is that of Bulut, Serin and Salin (2010) whose formulation classified generalized beliefs concerning who or what influences things along a bipolar dimension from internal to external control: "Internal control" is the term used to describe the belief that control of future outcomes resides 29 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY primarily in oneself while "external control" refers to the expectancy that control is outside of oneself, either in the hands of powerful other people or due to fate/chance. However, Gale et al, (2008) asserted that there are three independent dimensions: Internality, Chance, and Powerful Others. It is believed that one can endorse each of these dimensions of locus of control independently and at the same time. For example, a person might simultaneously believe that both oneself and powerful others influence outcomes, but that chance does not. Since its introduction, the locus of control construct has undergone considerable elaboration and several context-specific instruments have been developed. Generally, the development of academic locus of control stems from family, culture, and past experiences or academic achievements leading to rewards and successes. Most internals have been shown to come from families that focused on effort, education, and responsibility. On the other hand, most externals come from families of a low socioeconomic status where there is a lack of life control. The attribution theory has explained the difference in highly motivated students versus low achievers. High achievers will take the risk in order to succeed on an assignment. Low achievers avoid success because they feel that their success was based upon luck and that it wouldn't happen again. Thus, academic locus of control is analogous to, but distinct from, attributions. According to Werner (2006) the attribution theory assumed that people try to determine why people do what they do, i.e., attribute causes to behavior. There is a three-stage-process which underlies an attribution. Step one: the person must perceive or possibly observe the behavior. Step two is to try and figure out if the behavior was intentional, and step three is to determine if the person was forced to perform that behavior. The latter occur after the fact, that is, they are explanations for events that have happened. This may have made researchers to conclude that academic locus of control is an attitudinal and motivational variable (MacDonald, 2005) which has important consequences for teaching and learning situations, not only in the developed nations but also in the developing ones like Nigeria (Asonibare & Olayomi, 1997; Akomolafe & Popoola, 2011). The significance of locus of control in academic resilience cannot be over- emphasised (Miller, Fitch, & Marshall, 2003). Students with an internal academic locus of control have the belief that outcomes in life are based on personal efforts and ability. As such, they are likely to be academically resilient while those with external 30 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY academic locus of control rely on others to determine their academic achievements. In light of this, moving responsibilities back to students allow them to gain control over their academic achievements and reinforces antecedents of personal academic success. The major essential reason for this is that academic resilient students have "internal locus of hope" (Akin, 2010) and it is this quality that leads to developing the needed motivation to excel academically. As Kumpfer (1999) stated, internal academic resilience can be related to having goals, dreams and personal aspirations. Theory of Locus of Control A person‘s perception of the source of his or her fate is termed as a locus of control, i.e. the degree to which people believe they are master of their own fate. Students who believe that they control what happens to them are ‗Internals‘ or internally motivated and have an internal academic locus of control. Those who believe that outside factors such as luck or chance controls their fate are ‗Externals‘ or externally motivated and have an external locus of control (Robins, 2003). Internals believe that they personally are in control of their destiny and that luck and fate have only a modest influence on the outcome of events. For internals, personal destiny comes from within and therefore they tend to be self-reliant and independent. Rotter‘s (1966) locus of control formulation classified generalized beliefs concerning who or what influences things along a bipolar dimension from internal to external control: "Internal control" is the term used to describe the belief that control of future outcomes resides primarily in oneself while "external control" refers to the expectancy that control is outside of oneself, either in the hands of powerful other people or due to fate/chance. Generally, the development of locus of control stems from family, culture, and past experiences leading to rewards. Most internals have been shown to come from families that focused on effort, education, and responsibility. On the other hand, most externals come from families of a low socioeconomic status where there is a lack of life control. The attribution theory has explained the difference in highly motivated students versus low achievers. High achievers will take the risk in order to succeed on an assignment. Low achievers avoid success because they feel that their success was based upon luck and that it wouldn't happen again. 31 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2.1.3 Academic Self-Efficacy Bandura (1999) defined self-efficacy as the belief in oneself, a belief in one's own capabilities, that individuals have the power to bring about changes in their lives. In other words, self-efficacy is a person‘s belief in his or her ability to perform a particular task effectively and successfully. Bandura described these beliefs as determinant of how people think, behave, and feel. His research indicated that self- efficacy can have an impact on everything from psychological states to behaviour to motivation. These beliefs provide the foundation for human motivation, well-being, and personal accomplishment. Unless people believe that their actions can produce the outcomes they desire, they have little incentive to act or to persevere in the face of difficulties. For this reason, how people behave can often be better predicted by the beliefs they hold about their capabilities than by what they are actually capable of accomplishing, therefore these self-efficacy perceptions help determine what individuals do with the knowledge and skills they have (Diseth, 2011). Self-efficacy is created in an individual early in life, but is continually developed throughout life stages. Bandura (1999) suggested that there are four ways that individuals develop positive self-efficacy; mastery experiences, peer modelling, social persuasion, and somatic and emotional states. Mastery experiences are those obstacles in which an individual achieves success through a sustained effort; they give the individual the sense that they have what is necessary to succeed. Peer modelling is particularly important in the middle school learner; this method raises the individual belief that they have the ability to succeed in a similar manner. Social persuasion is when individuals are persuaded verbally that they have the capabilities to perform tasks. When this happens, they are more likely to put forth a greater effort and sustain that effort for a longer period. An individual‘s emotional state can change their self- efficacy, a positive mood enhances self-efficacy, and of course, a negative mood diminishes it. Enhancing ones mood toward the positive will greatly increase their positive self-efficacy beliefs. Self-efficacy can be measured and evaluated. Bandura first began studying self-efficacy in the late 1970‘s in the clinical setting. It was not until the 1980‘s that researchers started to investigate the relevance of self-efficacy to education. Now there are numerous instruments available to measure self-efficacy levels and interpret what they mean, though few are empirically validated (Adeyemo, 2007). The 32 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Perceived Competence of Functioning Inventory (PCFI) was developed in 1994 and reliability and validity were assessed from 1994 to 2000 (Hays & Williams, 2000). Another common instrument for measuring self-efficacy is Bookover‘s Self-Concept of Ability scale. According to Hays and Williams (2000) the PCFI was designed to assess, the client‘s perceived ability to function in five areas associated with mental health adjustment: self-esteem, coping, quality of life, and roles. In 2004, the PCFI was redesigned to measure Bandura‘s three processes of change and a relational domain was added. There are four subscales each containing four questions. The subscales are: Cognitive-healthy thinking, Motivational-healthy acting, Affective- healthy feeling, and Relational-healthy relating (Ball et al, 2007). Individuals with high self-efficacy have some attributes quite different from those with low self-efficacy. High self-efficacious individuals set high goal challenges and are committed to their completion. They focus on opportunities and always expect favourable outcomes. Obstacles are just stepping-stones in their paths; they persevere and use them for continued self-development. These individuals are emotionally stable, level headed and excellent problem solvers. Individuals with low self-efficacy tend to display traits on the opposite side of the spectrum (Ball et al, 2007). Self-efficacy can be equally viewed primarily as a mental capacity that influences self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-realization or self-actualization (Akin, 2010). The fact that academic resilience is determined by one‘s view of personal capability will influence a student‘s level of performance academically. Students who think themselves incapable of success and that school is not for them or out of their reach tend to manifest their beliefs in their results. Even when such perceptions do not reflect their true capabilities and are inaccurate, their behavior is still consistent with their beliefs; as such, Adeyemo (2007) belief that to achieve high self-efficacy, most students must choose between need for achievement and need for affiliation with peers. Students develop confidence in many ways and those who are confident about their skills are more likely to engage in a variety of activities. The kind of self- efficacy students have about skills influence the types of activities they select, how much they challenge themselves at those activities and the persistence they exhibit once they are involved in the activities (Adeyemo, 2007). Literatures have suggested that underachievers exhibit low self-concept or low-self perceptions (Whitmore, 2000; 33 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Becker & Luthar, 2002; Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Pianta & Howes, 2002). Notwithstanding, research is yet to refute the assertion that underachievers have poor academic self-efficacy. Academic self-efficacy is a significant predictor of academic achievement (Ball et al, 2007). Research has suggested that as much as one third of the variance in achievement can be accounted for by academic self-efficacy alone (Trent & Slade, 2008). Furthermore, academic resilience is related to a positive self-efficacy (Marsh, Walker & Debus, 1995). Aydin (2010) posited that self-efficacy affects learning and is a result of attitude and the frame of mind of the students. A typical example is the classroom situation, where candidates pass or fail examination even before entering the examination hall due to their self-efficacy that has influenced academic resilience negatively. The perception carried to the classroom by the student which influences his abilities, capabilities and potentials often affect him or her in the class. Burchinal et al, (2002) stated that resilient children are active in solving problems and constructively perceive their experiences; from birth, they are able to gain positive attention; maintain optimism and find escape in hobbies; they like to do well in school and have a close relationship to at least one caregiver or personal friend who cares about the student as an individual. Self-efficacy has been explained as the capacity of individuals to "understand and manage their world in a meaningful way" (Ball et al, 2007). Self-efficacy implies that the student is academically resilient. This capacity can be associated with "behavioural and social competence and problem solving skills (Kumpfer, 1999). The participants were resourceful in finding the supports they needed to survive and thrive amidst adversity and to succeed in academics. This support is mostly social supports and certain characteristics of families, schools, and communities are related to the development of self-efficacy and a high level of academic achievement (Benard, 2004). Students who possess self-efficacy are likely to be academically resilience and this would assist them to actively engage in problem-solving. It would also assist them to have an optimistic approach to life, be more alert and acceptance of their academic mistakes and take-up proactive actions to resolving negative issues. Becker & Luthar (2002) noted that academic resilient students view under-achievements as obstacles that can be worked on, changed, and resolved. This means that they are active in problem solving, and develop flexible strategies and skills to solve problems. 34 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Researches (Bandura, 1997; Alfassi, 2003; Grantham, 2004) have stated that self- esteem, self-efficacy and cognitive skills are important to a student‘s ability to overcome stressful academic situations and positively influence their academic achievement. To further affirm the role of a student‘s inherent characteristics as important in the development of self-efficacy, an earlier personality differences distinguishing academic resilient students from others established by Condly (2006) is cited here: * Underachievers – Submissive, defensive, distrustful, passive aggressive, low aspiring, easy going, considerate, unassuming, anxious and alienated. * Achievers - Positive self image, sensors minded, responsible, dominant, self- confident, disciplined, future oriented, independent, achieving motivated and positive social relations. * Overachievers - Socially aware, responsible, grade motivated, family dependent, approval seeking, internally anxious, consistent, self stating, organized and hardworking. Social Cognitive Theory Bandura (1986) advanced a view of human functioning that accords a central role to cognitive, vicarious, self-regulatory, and self-reflective processes in human adaptation and change. People are viewed as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting and self-regulating rather than as reactive organisms shapened by environmental forces or driven by concealed inner impulses. From this theoretical perspective, human functioning is viewed as the product of a dynamic interplay of personal, behavioural, and environmental influences; for example, how people interpret the results of their own behaviour informs and alters their environments and the personal factors they possess which, in turn, inform and alter subsequent behaviour. This is the foundation of Bandura's (1986) conception of reciprocal determinism, the view that (a) personal factors in the form of cognition, affect, and biological events, (b) behaviour, and (c) environmental influences create interactions that result in a triadic reciprocality. Bandura altered the label of his theory from social learning to social "cognitive" both to distance it from prevalent social learning theories of the day and to emphasize that cognition plays a critical role in people's capability to construct reality, self-regulate, encode information, and perform behaviors. 35 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Bandura (1986) The reciprocal nature of the determinants of human functioning in social cognitive theory makes it possible for therapeutic and counselling efforts to be directed at personal, environmental, or behavioural factors. Strategies for increasing well-being can be aimed at improving emotional, cognitive, or motivational processes, increasing behavioural competencies, or altering the social conditions under which people live and work. In school, for example, teachers have the challenge of improving the academic learning and confidence of the students in their charge. Using social cognitive theory as a framework, teachers can work to improve their students' emotional states and to correct their faulty self-beliefs and habits of thinking (personal factors), improve their academic skills and self-regulatory practices (behaviour), and alter the school and classroom structures that may work to undermine student success (environmental factors). Bandura's social cognitive theory stood in clear contrast to theories of human functioning that over-emphasize the role that environmental factors play in the development of human behaviour and learning. Behaviourist theories, for example, show scant interest in self-processes because theorists assume that human functioning is caused by external stimuli. Since inner processes are viewed as transmitting rather than causing behaviour, they are dismissed as a redundant factor in the cause and effect process of behaviour and unworthy of psychological inquiry. For Bandura, a psychology without introspection cannot aspire to explain the complexities of human functioning. It is by looking into their own conscious mind that people make sense of their own psychological processes. To predict how human behaviour is influenced by environmental outcomes, it is critical to understand how the individual cognitively processes and interprets those outcomes. For Bandura (1986), a theory that denies that 36 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY thoughts can regulate actions does not lend itself readily to the explanation of complex human behaviour. Similarly, social cognitive theory differed from theories of human functioning that over-emphasized the influence of biological factors in human development and adaptation. Although it acknowledged the influence of evolutionary factors in human adaptation and change, it rejected the type of evolutionism that viewed social behavior as the product of evolved biology but failed to account for the influence that social and technological innovations that create new environmental selection pressures for adaptiveness have on biological evolution (Bussey & Bandura, 1999). Instead, the theory espoused a bi-directional influence in which evolutionary pressures alter human development such that individuals are able to create increasingly complex environmental innovations that, "in turn, create new selection pressures for the evolution of specialized biological systems for functional consciousness, thought, language, and symbolic communication". This bi-directional influence resulted in the remarkable inter-cultural and intra-cultural diversity evident in the society. Social cognitive theory is rooted in a view of human agency in which individuals as agents proactively engaged in their own development and can make things happen by their actions. Key to this sense of agency is the fact that, among other personal factors, individuals possess self-beliefs that enable them to exercise a measure of control over their thoughts, feelings, and actions, that "what people think, believe, and feel affects how they behave" (Bandura, 1986). Bandura provided a view of human behavior in which the beliefs that people have about themselves are critical elements in the exercise of control and personal agency. Thus, individuals are viewed both as products and as producers of their own environments and of their social systems. Because human lives are not lived in isolation, Bandura expanded the conception of human agency to include collective agency. People work together on shared beliefs about their capabilities and common aspirations to better their lives and this conceptual extension makes the theory applicable to human adaptation and changes in collectivistically - oriented societies as well as individualistically - oriented ones. Environments and social systems influence human behaviour through psychological mechanisms of the self system. Hence, social cognitive theory posited 37 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY that factors such as economic conditions, socio-economic status, and educational and familial structures do not affect human behaviour directly. Instead, they affect it to the degree that they influence students‘ aspirations, self-efficacy beliefs, personal standards, emotional states, and other self-regulatory influences. In all, this social cognitive view of human and collective functioning, which marked a departure from the prevalent behaviourist and learning theories of the day, was to have a profound influence on psychological thinking and theorizing during the last two decades of the twentieth century and into the new millennium. Fundamental Human Capabilities Rooted within Bandura's social cognitive perspective is the understanding that individuals are imbued with certain capabilities that define what it is to be human. Primary among these are the capabilities to symbolize, plan alternative strategies, learn through vicarious experience, self-regulate, and self-reflect. These capabilities provide human beings with the cognitive means by which they are influential in determining their own destiny. Humans possess extraordinary capacity to symbolize. By drawing on their symbolic capabilities, they can extract meaning from their environment, construct guides for action, solve problems cognitively, support fore- thoughtful courses of action, gain new knowledge by reflective thought, and communicate with others at any distance in time and space. For Bandura, symbols are the vehicle of thought, and it is by symbolizing their experiences that they can provide their lives with structure, meaning, and continuity. Symbolizing also enables people to store the information required to guide future behaviours. It is through this process that they are able to model observed behaviour. Through the use of symbols, individuals solve cognitive problems and engage in self-directedness and fore-thought. People plan courses of action, anticipate the likely consequences of these actions, and set goals and challenges to motivate, guide and regulate their activities. It is because of the capability to plan alternative strategies that one can anticipate the consequences of an action without actually engaging in it. People learn not only from their own experience but by observing the behaviors of others. This vicarious learning permits individuals to learn a novel behavior without undergoing the trial and error process of performing it. In many situations, it keeps them from risking costly and potentially fatal mistakes. The observation is 38 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY symbolically coded and used as a guide for future action. Observational learning is governed by the processes of attention, retention, production, and motivation. Attention refers to one's ability to selectively observe the actions of a model. For their part, observed behaviours can be reproduced only if they are retained in memory, a process made possible by the human capability to symbolize. Production refers to the process of engaging in the observed behaviour. Finally, if engaging in the observed behaviour produces valued results and expectation, the individual is motivated to adopt the behaviour and repeat it in the future. Individuals have self-regulatory mechanisms that provide the potential for self-directed changes in their behaviour. The manner and degree to which people self- regulate their own actions and behaviour involve the accuracy and consistency of their self-observation and self-monitoring, the judgments they make regarding their actions, choices, and attributions, and, finally, the evaluative and tangible reactions they make to their own behaviour through the self-regulatory process. This last sub- function includes evaluations of one's own self (their self-concept, self-esteem, values) and tangible self-motivators that act as personal incentives to behave in self- directed ways. For Bandura (1986), the capability that is most "distinctly human" is that of self-reflection, hence it is a prominent feature of social cognitive theory. Through self-reflection, people make sense of their experiences, explore their own cognitions and self-beliefs, engage in self-evaluation, and alter their thinking and behaviour accordingly. Academic Self-Efficacy Of all the thoughts that affect human functioning, and standing at the very core of social cognitive theory, is self-efficacy. This means people‘s judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to improve in their academic achievements. Academic self-efficacy provides the foundation for secondary schools students‘ academic resilience and improved academic achievements. This is because unless students believe that their actions can produce the outcomes they desire, they have little motivation to act or to persevere in the face of academic difficulties. Thus, academic self-efficacy is a critical determinant of self- instruction and self-regulation. 39 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Though academic achievement is influenced by many psychosocial variables yet academic self-efficacy is essential in developing academic resilience among students. The academic success or failure that students experience in schools naturally influences the many perceptions and decisions they make concerning their educational attainments. Bandura‘s (1999) key contentions as regards the role of self-efficacy beliefs in human functioning is that people's level of motivation, affective states, and actions are based more on what they believe than on what is objectively true. For this reason, how students react to academic underachievement can often be better predicted by the beliefs they hold about their capabilities than by what they are actually capable of accomplishing, This, therefore is an indication that self-efficacy is responsible for determining what individuals do with the knowledge and skills they have. This helps explain why students' behaviours are sometimes disjointed from their actual academic capabilities thus, their behaviour may differ widely even when they have similar knowledge and skills. Many brilliant students for example, suffer frequent (and sometimes debilitating) bouts of self-doubt about their academic capabilities, just as many of them are confident about what they can accomplish despite possessing a modest intelligence. As a consequence, students‘ academic achievements are better predicted by their self-efficacy beliefs than by their previous attainments, knowledge, or skills; since lack of self-efficacy can result in chronic examination or academic anxiety which would make a mockery of the students‘ intelligence and academic achievements. However, no amount of self-efficacy can produce success when requisite psychosocial variables and intelligence are not positively in place. The mediational role that judgments of academic self-efficacy play in students‘ behaviour is affected by a number of factors. There may be dis-incentives and performance constraints; that is, even highly academic self-efficacious and well- skilled students may choose not to behave in accordance with their beliefs and abilities because they simply lack the incentive to do so, because they lack the necessary resources, or because they perceive social constraints in their envisioned path or outcome. In such cases, efficacy will fail to predict performance. A student may feel capable but do nothing because he/she feels impeded by these real or imaginary constraints. It is not unusual for students to over- or under-estimate their abilities and suffer the consequences of such errors of judgment. These consequences 40 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY of misjudgment play a part in the continual process of efficacy self-appraisals. When consequences are slight, individuals may not feel the need to reappraise their abilities and may continue to engage in tasks beyond their competence. In such situations, the relationship between efficacious judgments and subsequent behavior will be muddled by the misjudgment of skills. Academic self-efficacy must also be checked periodically to assess the effect of experience on competence, for the degree of relationship between self-efficacy and action is affected by temporal disparities. It has been argued that because strong self-efficacy is generally the product of time and multiple experiences, they are highly resistant and predictable (Bandura, 1999). Weak self-efficacy, however, require constant reappraisal if they are to serve as predictors. Both, of course, are susceptible to a powerful experience or consequence. Although academic self-efficacy exercises a powerful influence on students‘ behaviour, a number of factors can affect the strength of the relationship. For instance, faulty assessment of self-precepts or performance will create an ambiguous relationship. Bandura (1986) argued that measures of self-precept must be tailored to the domain of psychological functioning being explored. It is important to know the precise nature of the skills required to successfully perform a particular behaviour, for mis-weighting requisite sub-skills results in discrepancies between self-efficacy and behaviour, and the problem is made worse when students are called on to make efficacious judgments about their own cognitive skills. Similarly, when students are uncertain about the nature of their task, their efficacious judgments can mislead them. Tasks perceived as more difficult or demanding than they really are result in inaccurate low self efficacy readings, whereas those perceived as less difficult may result in over-confidence. Students often perceive their abilities as only partially mastered, feeling more competent about some components than about others. How they focus on and appraise these components will strongly affect their sense of efficacy about the task to be undertaken. If obscure aims and performance ambiguity are perceived, sense of efficacy is of little use in predicting behavioural outcomes; for students do not have a clear idea of how much effort to expend, how long to sustain it, and how to correct missteps and misjudgments. The aims of an academic task and the performance levels required for academic success must be accurately appraised for self-efficacy judgments to serve as useful regulators and predictors of performance. This factor is especially relevant in 41 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY the school where a student's academic resilience is socially judged by ill-defined criteria so that one has to rely on others to find out how one is doing (Bandura, 1986). In such situations, students lack the experience to accurately assess their sense of efficacy and have no option but to gauge their abilities from knowledge of other experiences, often a very poor indicator and predictor of the required performance. This faulty self-knowledge can have unpredictable results. Students form their academic self-efficacy by interpreting information primarily from four sources. The most influential source is the interpreted result of one's previous performance, or mastery experience. Students engage in tasks and activities, interpret the results of their actions, use the interpretations to develop beliefs about their capability to engage in subsequent tasks or activities, and act in concert with the beliefs created. Typically, outcomes interpreted as successful raise self-efficacy; those interpreted as failures lower it. Of course, students who possess a low sense of efficacy often discount their successes rather than change their self- belief. Even after students achieve academic success through dogged effort, some continue to doubt their academic efficacy to mount a similar effort. Consequently, mastery experiences are only raw data, and many factors influence how such information is cognitively processed and affects a student's self-appraisal. In addition to interpreting the results of their actions, students develop their self-efficacy through the vicarious experience of observing others perform tasks. This source of information is weaker than mastery experience in helping create self- efficacy beliefs, but when students are uncertain about their own abilities or when they have limited prior experience, they become more sensitive to it. The effects of modelling are particularly relevant in this context especially when the student has little prior experience with the task. Even experienced and academic self-efficacious students, however, will raise their self-efficacy even higher, if models teach them better ways of doing things. Vicarious experience is particularly powerful when observers see similarities in some attribute and then assume that the model's performance is diagnostic of their own capability. For example, a girl will raise her perceived physical efficacy on seeing how a woman model exhibit physical strength but not after seeing a male model do so. In this case, gender is the attribute for assumed similarity. Observing the successes of such models contributes to the observers' beliefs about their own capabilities ("If they can do it, so can I!"). 42 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Conversely, watching models with perceived similar attributes fail can undermine the observers' beliefs about their own capability to succeed. When people perceive the model's attributes as highly divergent from their own, the influence of vicarious experience is greatly minimized. It should be noted that students seek out models who possesses qualities they admire and capabilities to which they aspire. A significant model in one's life can help instill self-beliefs that will influence the course and direction that life will take. Students also create and develop academic self-efficacy as a result of the social persuasions they receive from others. These persuasions can involve exposure to the verbal judgments that others provide. Persuaders play an important part in the development of an individual's self-beliefs. But social persuasions should not be confused with knee-jerk praise or empty inspirational homilies. Effective persuaders must cultivate students' beliefs in their capabilities while at the same time ensuring that the envisioned success is attainable. And, just as positive persuasions may work to encourage and empower, negative persuasions can work to defeat and weaken self- efficacy beliefs. In fact, it is usually easier to weaken academic self-efficacy through negative appraisals than to strengthen such beliefs through positive encouragement. Somatic and emotional states such as anxiety, stress, arousal, and mood states also provide information about efficacy beliefs. Students can gauge their degree of confidence by the emotional state they experience as they sit for a test or examination. Strong emotional reactions to a task provide cues as to the anticipated success or failure of the outcome. When they experience negative thoughts and fears about their capabilities to excel in a test or examination, those affective reactions can themselves lower academic self-efficacy perceptions and trigger additional stress and agitation that help ensure the inadequate performance they fear. Of course, judgments of self- efficacy from somatic and emotional states are not necessarily linked to task cues. Individuals in a depressed mood lower their efficacy independent of task cues. One way to raise academic self-efficacy is to improve physical and emotional well-being and reduce negative emotional states. Because students have the capability to alter their own thinking and feeling, enhanced academic self-efficacy can, in turn, powerfully influence the physiological states themselves. As Bandura (1999) observed, people live in psychic environments that are primarily of their own making. 43 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY The sources of academic self-efficacy information are not directly translated into judgments of competence. Students interpret the results of events, and these interpretations provide the information on which judgments are based. The types of information students attend to and use to make efficacious judgments, and the rules they employ for weighting and integrating them, form the basis for such interpretations. Thus, the selection, integration, interpretation, and recollection of information influence judgments of academic self-efficacy. In view of this, students‘ self-efficacy should not be confused with the judgments of the consequences that their behavior will produce. Confident students anticipate excellent academic achievements and successful social encounters. The opposite is true of those who lack confidence; these students often envision rejection or ridicule, a low grade even before they establish social contact or begin an examination and enroll in a course. What this portends, is that the expected results of these imagined performances will be differently envisioned by these two categories of students. The initial group perceives social success or greater career options while the latter perceive social isolation or curtailed academic possibilities. A fact that needs to be pinpointed here is that self-efficacy is not a fixed measure of behavior as it can be learned and enhanced by having access to appropriate social and psychological supports. To this end, it may be said that self-efficacy is both a personal and a social construct essential on improving academic achievements and resilience among students. It is a construct that shows the importance of students‘ functioning both at the individual and collective level. Collective systems develop a sense of collective efficacy—a group‘s shared belief in its capability to attain goals and accomplish desired tasks; for example, schools develop collective beliefs about the capability of their students to learn, of their teachers to teach and otherwise enhance the lives of their students, and of their administrators and policymakers to create environments conducive to these tasks. Organizations with a strong sense of collective efficacy exercise empowering and vitalizing influences on their constituents, and these effects are palpable and evident. On the individual level, self-efficacy can enhance human accomplishment and well- being. It influences the choices students make and the development of academic resilience. Students tend to show interest in subjects that they feel competent and confident they would pass and try not to consider those they found difficult. This is 44 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY why it can be said that whatever factors operate to influence behaviour, they are rooted in the core belief that one has the capability to accomplish that behaviour. Academic self-efficacy help determine how much effort students will expend on an achieving academic success, how long they will persevere when confronting academic obstacles, and how academically resilient they will be in the face of adverse situations. Thus, the higher the sense of academic self-efficacy, the greater the effort, persistence and academic resilience students are likely to exhibit. This means that students with strong sense of personal competence approach difficult academic tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided. They have greater intrinsic interest and deep engrossment in activities, set challenging goals and maintain strong commitment to them, and heighten and sustain their efforts in the face of failure. Moreover, they move quickly to recover their sense of academic self- efficacy after under-achievements, failures or setbacks, and attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge and skills that are acquirable. Academic self-efficacy influence a student's thought patterns and emotional reactions. High self-efficacy helps create feelings of serenity in approaching difficult academic tasks and activities. Conversely, students with low self-efficacy may believe that things are tougher than they really are, a belief that fosters anxiety, stress, depression, and a narrow vision of how best to solve a problem. As a consequence, self-efficacy can powerfully influence the level of accomplishment that one ultimately achieves. This function of self-beliefs can also create the type of self-fulfilling prophecy in which one accomplishes what one believes one can accomplish. That is, the perseverance associated with high self-efficacy is likely to lead to increased performance, which, in turn, raises one's sense of efficacy and spirit, whereas the giving-in associated with low self-efficacy helps ensure the very failure that further lowers confidence and morale. Academic Self-Efficacy and Human Attainment It can be assumed that when students doubt themselves, they make their own failure certain by being the first to be convinced of it. Since the introduction of the construct of self-efficacy, research has demonstrated that individuals' self-efficacy powerfully influence people‘s attainments in diverse fields. Bandura (1999) situated self-efficacy within a social cognitive theory of personal and collective agency that 45 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY operates in concert with other socio-cognitive factors in regulating human well-being and attainments. The major facets of agency which Bandura situated this upon were the nature and structure of self-efficacy, their origins and effects, the processes through which such self-beliefs operate, and the modes by which they can be created and strengthened were considered. Thus, self-efficacy has generated research in areas as diverse as medicine, athletics, media studies, business, social and political change, psychology, psychiatry, and education. Moreover, self-efficacy has been especially prominent in educational researches that focus on academic achievement, attributions of success and failure, goal setting, social comparisons, memory, problem solving, career development, and teaching and teacher education. In this wise, it can be concluded that self-efficacy and behaviour changes and outcomes are highly correlated. This supposition is in line with supposition that in psychology and education, self-efficacy has proven to be a more consistent predictor of behavioural outcomes than have any other motivational constructs. The major issue of content under academic self-efficacy is that, it is not simply a matter of how capable a student is, but of how capable he/she believes him/herself to be. 2.1.4 Gender and Academic Resilience According to Bell (2002), one cognitive process that seems nearly inevitable in humans is to divide people into groups. It can be assumed that the first thing instantly observable when an individual is seen is the gender. This means that the process of categorizing others in terms of gender can be both habitual and automatic. People are always categorized into two groups, males and females and this categorisation is different from each other. In real life, the characteristics of male and female tend to overlap. However, gender polarization most times creates an artificial gap between male and female which is difficult to change in people‘s mind sets. This characteristic gap can be termed as human stereotype. Stereotypes are representative of a society‘s collective knowledge of customs, myths, ideas, religions, and sciences. It is within this knowledge that an individual develops a stereotype or a belief about a certain group. Psychologists (Frank, Plunkety, & Otten (2010) felt that the stereotype is one part of an individual‘s social knowledge. As a result of this knowledge or lack of it, stereotype has an effect on social behaviour; for instance, it can be assumed that attaching females to jobs such as 46 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY nursing, catering and teaching while attaching males to engineering and guards is a typical stereotypical behaviour. This kind of behavior can influence a student academic resilience and motivation to study. This has been further supported by Raty and Kasanen (2010) who opined that the traditional gender roles help to sustain gender stereotypes, for instance, males are supposed to be adventurous, assertive, aggressive, independent and task-oriented, whereas females are seen as more sensitive, gentle, dependent, emotional and people-oriented. Notwithstanding this belief, it has been found that not all male have power and arrogantly dominate female (Raty and Kasanen (2010). Moreover, owing to the stereotype associated with gender, many males are dominated by ―the system‖ and considered disposable whereas females are given certain advantages and ―protected‖ in many ways (Colson, 2010). Gender socialization is how children of different sexes are socialised into their gender roles and taught what it means to be male or female. This starts from the moment an individual is born. Questions such as, ―is it a boy or a girl?‖ comes up. The main agencies of socialization are the family, peer groups, schools and the media (Raty & Kakkainen, 2011). Gender differences result from the socialization process, especially during childhood and adolescence. The classical example of gender socialisation is the experiment done with babies that were introduced as males to half of the study subjects and as females to the other half (W. S. (2010). The result achieved was interesting and disturbing at the same time, the participants behave differently according to the sex they had been told. This finding reveals that people contribute a lot to gender perception. With regard to gender difference, the family in fact, unlike other groups, is characterized by a specific way of living and constructing gender differences through a process that is surely biological, but also relational and social. The family is ―the social and symbolic place in which difference, in particular sexual difference, is believed to be fundamental and at the same time constructed―. In particular, in the family the gender characterization reflects the individualities of the parents (Chui, 2010). This means that the family is a ―gender relation‖. In the family, the relationship with the father and the mother assumes a fundamental importance in the definition of the gender belonging of the child. The models from which fathers and mothers take inspiration need to be verified because ―the crisis of the paternal authority has given more space to the father in shaping the educational relation with 47 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY the child. They think that the important thing is to converse and to build convincing representations of the world―. In the past, families had different educational demands for their sons and daughters after puberty and they then tended to differentiate them in the sense to promote the autonomy of the males and the dependency of the females. Parents teach stereotypes through different ways and behaviour: ―the way they dress their children, the way they decorate their children's rooms, the toys they give their children to play with, their own attitudes and behaviour‖. This is to say, young children learn their social roles from the behaviour of members of their family and the expectations placed upon them. Most of the early childhood learning takes place through imitation and reinforcement, imitation of behaviour they observe within the family occurs. For example, a girl may meet with disapproval if she fights another child, she will also observe in her home the distinct division of labour in domestic tasks based on gender. There will also be differences in the type of work her parents do outside the home. Television programmes and adverts will also maintain these gender role presentations (Chui, 2010). The bottom line is that in each aspect of a child‘s upbringing, distinct messages will be observed relating to gender roles. Children learn that being a boy or a girl starts from the day they are born. This idea and formed perception are already established in their repertoire when they enter school. This suggests that they already have several years of gender learning. Concern about gender and educational attainment focuses on the extent to which females and males perform differently in different subjects and their tendency to study different subjects given the choice. However, it is not true that males generally attain more qualifications or higher grades than females at school; in fact the reverse is the case (Robinson & Lubienski, 2012). When gender first began to be investigated by sociologists of education, the focus was largely on female under- achievement at every level of the educational system, and the ways in which traditional ideas about the proper role of women in society prevented them from achieving their full potential. However, females have markedly improved their educational performance during the 1980‘s and 1990‘s, so that the contemporary situation, while not without its problems and issues for girls in schools, or one where the educational opportunities open to females have possibly never been greater. Iyer, Kochenderfer-Ladd, Eisenberg and Thompson, (2010). suggested that gender differences in spatial ability may be attributed to the types of toys children 48 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY play with rather than their genetic makeup. Furthermore, genetic explanations cannot adequately account for the narrowing of gender differences in Mathematics and Science based subjects since the 1980‘s - if the differences were biologically determined we would expect them to remain constant over time. A variation of this theme is represented by The New Right ideologies put forward by Scrutton, which suggests that the Biological and natural instincts of the sexes determine a particular sex division of labour in the home and the gender segregation of the male dominated public sphere and the female world of the private home. These gender arrangements are seen as a ‗natural necessity‘. Theories on Gender Underachievement In order to have a clearer understanding of gender influence on human behavior especially as a moderating factor in this study that could influence academic resilience, an overview of some theories relating to gender underachievement is essential. According to Gorman (2012), there are three main types of theories used in explaining gender underachievement, these are:  Biologically based theories  Gender socialization  Organization of schools. Theories based on gender socialization There have also been sociologically based arguments suggesting that females' relative educational underachievement could have been explained by gender differences in the socialization process. The socialization process is a very important concept in Sociology which refers to the various mechanisms which operate in the socialization agencies such as the family, the education system, the Church, the mass media and the work place to ensure that individuals accept the values, attitudes and norms of their society. Perhaps the best known study which emphasized the importance of gender socialization as an influence on educational achievement was that of Koenig and Abrams (1999). They concluded on the basis of a study of mainly working class girls in London in the early 1970s that their main concerns were "love, marriage, children, jobs and careers more or less in that order." Clearly, if these girls saw careers as a relatively insignificant priority, they would have been unlikely to 49 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY attach much importance to the gaining of educational qualifications. However when she repeated the research in the 1990s, she found that careers ranked much more highly in the order of girls' priorities which could have been a factor contributing to their increasing education achievement. School organization theories Theories suggest that gender differences in educational achievement could be explained by a range of factors within the organization of schools themselves which were operating to the relative disadvantage of female students. Best, Stanworth, Licht & Dweck (2007) emphasized the following factors which might restrict girls' educational achievements.  Reading schemes encouraged acceptance of traditional gender roles.  Teachers gave less attention to girls.  Teachers failed to rebuke boys who verbally abused girls.  Boys monopolized science equipment which restricted girls' opportunities.  Girls' worried that if they appeared "too intelligent" this would reduce their attractiveness to boys and thereby undermine their femininity.  Teachers had stereotypical expectations about girls' future career prospects.  Girls were lacking in confidence relative to boys because of the ways in which they were treated in school.  Some subjects within the school curriculum (Domestic Science) encouraged girls to see their future as housewives and mothers rather than in full-time employment.  Career Guidance in schools may have dissuaded some girls from continuing with their education and pursuing well paid professional careers. 2.1.5 Academic Motivation This means that motivation is an important construct in psychology. All human behaviour appears to arise in response to some form of internal (physiological) or external (environmental) stimulation. The behaviours, however, are not random. They often involve some purpose or goal. It is often held that behaviours take place as a result of the arousal of certain motives. Thus, motivation can be defined as the 50 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY process of activating, maintaining and directing behaviour towards a particular goal. In other words, the process of initiating action is technically called ‗motivation‘. Directing behaviour towards certain goal is the essence of motivation. Motivation is not always directly observable. It is inferred and used to explain behaviour. When it is asked ―What motivates a person to do a particular task?‖ What is inferred is why she behaved the way as she does. In other words, motivation, as popularly used, refers to the ‗cause‘ or ‗why‘ of behaviour. Motivation is typically studied using two approaches: psychological studies manipulate environmental events and monitor the resulting patterns of motivated behaviour; physiological studies are aimed at clarifying the neural or endocrine origin of motivation. Psychological studies might examine, for instance, how an animal is able to maintain a constant goal-oriented activity as the surrounding stimuli change, or how an animal is able to spontaneously switch between behaviours as its needs change. As such, a student with a need to achieve success in academics will work hard in school; an individual with a strong need to excel in sports will put in a lot of hard work in that field; similarly in business and in many other situations. In view of this, academic motivation can be learned (in which case it is called secondary motivation) and typically elicits more complex behaviours than simple reflexes. They are equally goal-oriented; the goal may be associated with a drive such as hunger or thirst (called primary motivation). However, academic motivation is closely tied to academic resilience a student will not usually exhibit unless faced with academic difficulties and underachievement. This process is usually terminated once the desired academic achievement is attained by the student. How well a student is motivated to learn depends to a large extent, on the climate of the learning environment (the classroom which is influenced by the teacher‘s teaching method and classroom management (Ersoy & Ozden, 2011). According to them, teachers‘ method of teaching and classroom management ability shape students‘ perception and this in turn affects (positively or negatively) the attitude of a student towards the subject or subject-teachers. Pianta, Hamre and Allen (2012) also maintained that teaching method of the teacher could lead to student‘s academic underachievement. The researcher also argued that the strength of any educational system must largely depend on the quality of its teachers. Thus, however generous the teaching resources and efficient the administration, the values of the 51 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY students are still determined by the teachers who are responsible for motivating students during classroom teaching and learning (Pianta, et. al., 2012). This may be why Patall, Cooper, and Wynn, (2010) defined classroom dynamics as ―a complex and multifaceted phenomenon having to do with classroom climate and the behavior of teachers and students‖. According to them, classroom dynamics can affect whether or not students will be motivated academically and the behavior outcomes resulting from it. The school environment can either embrace students and encourage achievement in educational goals or make them feel rejected and disconnected. The rejection and disengagement could eventually lead to dropping out of school. Radel, Sarrazin, Legrain, and Wild (2010) further explained that the root of academic and behavior problems stems from the mismatch between the students‘ needs, teaching method used by the instructor, and the requirements of the curriculum which kills academic motivation. Research on teacher expectations shows the impact it can have on students‘ academic motivation (Carr & Walton, 2011). They describe educators‘ expectations as being either a bridge or a barrier for students‘ academic motivation. These educators demonstrate their expectations of students through their verbal and nonverbal behavior (Patall, et. al., 2011; Carr & Walton, 2011). This can lead to students eventually internalizing the expectations teachers have about their ability which could either enhance their level of motivation or destroy it. This means that in order to motivate students‘ performance academically and develop their academic resilience, educators must improve the school experience of students by creating a school and classroom environment that promotes success for all students (Dogan & Coban, 2010; Patall, et. al., 2011; Stumblingbear-Riddle & Romans, 2012). Research further indicates that students with a positive connection to the school become academically motivated and are less likely to engage in inappropriate behavior (King, Ollendick, & Prins, 2000). Students must feel that educators have a vested and genuine interest in them and need to feel cared for and respected. Open communication and a shared vision helps to build a sense of trust among the students and educators (Dogan & Coban, 2010). Stumblingbear-Riddle & Romans, (2012) recommended for educators to build upon the strengths of students and focus on their assets to enhance academic resilience. 52 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Lack of motivation among students in secondary, primary and higher education is one of the causes of underachievement (Reis & McCoach, 2000). They argued that circle of motivation provided by either teachers or parents could have a negative impact on children‘s performance. Whitmore (2000) observed that many underachieving students need motivation from their teachers because they have learning styles incompatible with prevailing instructional methods. Mrolzek (2006) personality studies contended that the self concept is learned through the child‘s environment, both at home and at school. Negative self concept can cause underachievement when parents do not acknowledge their children‘s abilities or fail to support them. A teacher‘s responses and feedback given to students also have the capability to shape their perceptions of themselves (McCombs, 2003). Many underachieving students have had negative experiences in the educational setting. Feelings of frustration and disconnect from the school environment may be present. Research indicates that this often leads to the students not feeling really motivated to learn and may lead to the development of a negative attitude towards school with eventual dropping out increasing significantly (Wehlage, 2001). However, students who are academically motivated have good classroom interactions with their teachers and classmates and possess academic resilience. Hull’s Behavioural Theory of Motivation Hull‘s theory provided a framework within which motivated behaviour can be analyzed. Hull (1943) proposed that ―the initiation of learned, or habitual, patterns of movement or behaviour is called motivation.‖ In addition, Hull proposed a distinction between primary motivation, the evocation of action in relation to primary needs; and secondary motivation, the evocation of action in relation to secondary reinforcing stimuli or incentives. Primary motivation is the cornerstone of Hull‘s drive reduction theory. According to Hull, events that threaten survival give rise to internal drive states, and behaviours that act to reduce drive are thus rewarding. For instance, lack of food causes an increase in the hunger drive, and the consumption of food is rewarding because it leads to a reduction in the hunger drive. A stimulus repeatedly associated with onset of a drive state can become an acquired drive. Once developed, an acquired drive can motivate behaviour on subsequent occasions, even in the absence of cues that elicit the original drive state. Stimuli with this property become incentives, and 53 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY their ability to evoke behaviours is known as secondary or incentive motivation. For instance, people learn to associate the sight of food with the impending act of consuming food, so they feel hungry when food is seen. Motivated behaviour requires both drives and appropriate stimuli. Hull‘s theory captures this relationship by proposing that the behaviour potential for a given action is the product of drive strength and incentive level associated with that action. Motivated behaviour requires a form of competition. According to Hull, at any given time the behaviour with the greatest potential to reduce a given drive is released. If the drive persists, that behaviour is inhibited, and the second strongest response in the drive hierarchy will be released, and so on. Maslow's hierarchy of needs In 1970, Maslow published Motivation and Personality, which introduced his theory about how people satisfy various personal needs in the context of their work. He postulated, based on his observations as a humanistic psychologist, that there is a general pattern of needs recognition and satisfaction that people follow in generally the same sequence. He also theorized that a person could not recognize or pursue the next higher need in the hierarchy until her/his currently recognized need was substantially or completely satisfied, a concept called pre-potency. Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often illustrated as a pyramid with the survival need at the broad-based bottom and the self-actualization need at the narrow top. The needs are; Physiological - Thirst, sex, hunger; Safety - Security, stability, protection; Love and Belongingness - To escape loneliness, love and be loved, and gain a sense of belonging; Esteem - Self-respect, the respect for others and Self-actualization - To fulfill one's potentialities. According to various literatures on motivation, individuals often have problems consistently articulating what they want from a job. Therefore, employers have ignored what individuals‘ say that they want, instead telling employees what they want, based on what managers believe most people want under the circumstances. Frequently, these decisions have been based on Maslow's needs hierarchy, including the factor of pre-potency. As a person advances through an organization, his employer supplies or provides opportunities to satisfy needs higher on Maslow's pyramid. 54 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Alderfer's ERG theory Alderfer (1969) classified needs into three categories and these are: growth needs (development of competence and realization of potential); relatedness needs (satisfactory relations with others) and existence needs (physical well-being). Alderfer believed that as you start satisfying higher needs, they become more intense (the power you get the more you want power), like an addiction. Do any of these theories have anything useful to say for managing businesses? Well, if true, they suggest that not everyone is motivated by the same things. It depends where you are in the hierarchy (think of it as a kind of personal development scale). The needs hierarchy probably mirrors the organizational hierarchy to a certain extent: top managers are more likely to be motivated by self-actualization/growth needs than existence needs. Mcclellan Acquired Needs Theory According to Mcclellan (1965) some needs are acquired as a result of life experiences and these needs are:  Need for achievement which can be translated to accomplishing something difficult. It encourages students to do things for themselves.  Need for affiliation refers to desiring close personal relationships. Students are rewarded for making friends.  Need for power and to control others. As students are able to get what they want through controlling others. These needs can be measured using the TAT (Thematic Apperception Test), which is a projection-style test based on interpreting stories that people tell about a set of pictures. Cognitive Evaluation Theory This theory propounded by Deci (1975) suggested that there are actually two motivation systems: intrinsic and extrinsic that corresponds to two kinds of motivators: * Intrinsic motivators: Achievement, responsibility and competence. Motivators that come from the actual performance of the task or job - the intrinsic interest of the work. 55 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY * Extrinsic: pay, promotion, feedback, working conditions - things that come from a person's environment, controlled by others. One or the other of these may be a more powerful motivator for a given individual. Intrinsically motivated individuals perform for their own achievement and satisfaction. If they come to believe that they are doing some job because of the pay or the working conditions or some other extrinsic reason, they begin to lose motivation. The belief is that the presence of powerful extrinsic motivators can actually reduce a person's intrinsic motivation, particularly if the extrinsic motivators are perceived by the person to be controlled by people. In other words, a boss who is always dangling this reward or that stick will turn off the intrinsically motivated people. Equity Theory Equity theory first developed by Adams (1965) said that it is not the actual reward that motivates, but the perception, and the perception is based not on the reward in isolation, but in comparison with the efforts that went into getting it, and the rewards and efforts of others. If everyone got a 5% raise, B is likely to feel quite pleased with her raise, even if she worked harder than everyone else. But if A got an even higher raise, B perceives that she worked just as hard as A, she will be unhappy. In other words, people's motivation results from a ratio of ratios: a person compares the ratio of reward to effort with the comparable ratio of reward to effort that they think others are getting. Of course, in terms of actually predicting how a person will react to a given motivator, this will get pretty complicated: * People do not have complete information about how others are rewarded. So they are going on perceptions, rumors, and inferences. * Some people are more sensitive to equity issues than others * Some people are willing to ignore short-term inequities as long as they expect things to work out in the long-term. Reinforcement Theory Operant Conditioning is the term used by B.F. Skinner (1948) to describe the effects of the consequences of a particular behaviour on the future occurrence of that behaviour. There are four types of Operant Conditioning: Positive reinforcement, 56 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Negative reinforcement, Punishment, and Extinction. Both Positive and Negative reinforcement strengthen behaviour while Punishment and Extinction weaken behaviour. * Positive reinforcement. Strengthening a behaviour. This is the process of getting goodies as a consequence of a behavior. You make a sale, you get a commission. You do a good job; you get a bonus & a promotion. * Negative reinforcement. Strengthening behaviour. This is the process of having a stressor taken away as a consequence of behaviour. * Extinction. Weakening behaviour. This is the process of getting no goodies when behaviour is emitted. So if person does extra effort, but gets no thanks for it, they stop doing it. * Punishment. Weakening behaviour. This is the process of getting a punishment as a consequence of abehaviour. Example: having to cut grasses in school for lateness. The traditional reinforcement schedule is called a continuous reinforcement schedule. Each time the correct behaviour is performed it gets reinforced. Then there is an intermittent reinforcement schedule. This comes in fixed and variable categories. The fixed interval schedule is where reinforcement is only given after a certain amount of time has elapsed. So, if you decided on a 5 second interval then each reinforcement would occur at the fixed time of every 5 seconds. The fixed ratio schedule is where the reinforcement is given only after a predetermined number of responses. This is often seen in behaviour chains where a number of behaviours have to occur for reinforcement to occur. The variable interval schedule is where the reinforcement is given after varying amounts of time between each reinforcement. The variable ratio schedule is where the reinforcement is given after a varying number of correct responses. Fluctuating combinations of primary and secondary reinforcers fall under other terms in the variable ratio schedule; For example, reinforcers delivered intermittently in a Randomized Order (RIR) or Variable Ratio with Reinforcement Variety (VRRV). 57 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Expectancy Theory (Vroom) According to Vroom (1964), this theory combined the perceptual aspects of equity theory with the behavioral aspects of the other theories. Basically, it comes down to this "equation": M = E*I*V or motivation = expectancy * instrumentality * valence M (motivation) is the amount a person will be motivated by the situation they find themselves in. It is a function of the following: E (expectancy) is the person's perception that effort will result in performance. In other words, the person's assessment of the degree to which effort actually correlates with performance. I (instrumentality) is the person's perception that performance will be rewarded / punished. I.e., the person's assessment of how well the amount of reward correlates with the quality of performance. This model is phrased in terms of extrinsic motivation, in that it asks 'what are the chances I'm going to get rewarded with if I do good job?' But for intrinsic situations, one can think of this as asking 'how good will I feel if I can pull this off? V (valence) is the perceived strength of the reward or punishment that will result from the performance. If the reward is small, the motivation will be small, even if expectancy and instrumentality are both perfect (high). 2.1.6 Parental Influence Amato and Fowler (2002) described the following parental support behaviours that yield positive results: giving children compliments, assisting children with their daily problems, and showing affection. Parental monitoring would include supervising and maintaining information in relation to their children‘s activities, school work, and friends. Parenting practices that yield negative outcomes would include harsh and coercive forms of discipline, such as yelling and corporal punishment. Positive or negative early educational experiences provided by parents can impact the academic future of their child. The parent‘s own educational background and the parent‘s expectations of the child‘s educational success are factors described in the poor family socialization theory that may influence a student‘s decision about staying in school. Separation of parents could also contribute to the academic underachievement of some students. Parents are not there to take care of 58 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY their children as it is supposed to be. There is conflict in the home almost every time. Many students are affected negatively by the situation in their homes. Some have the ability to cope while many could not. The parents are not there all the time to see to the problem the child is confronted with at a particular time promptly. Some students who are familiar with such an environment from their early life may be able to cope while some that are not used to such a situation found it difficult and it usually affects their academic achievement. When these children are given assignment at school, hardly do they have anybody around to supervise them at work. Many may not do the assignment given to him or her at school. Researches (Chui, 2010; Frank, Plunkett, & Otten (2010) have described the importance of the family‘s role in child development. Kurdek and Sinclair (2000) described the family as transmitters of culture that influences the socialization process. This means that through utilizing child rearing practices, parents pass down their values to their children. Child rearing practices can encourage or discourage the development of socialization, learning, motivation, self-esteem, and communication (Patall, et. al., 2010). Key parenting practices include support, monitoring, and discipline. These practices can impact on the adjustment and development of children. Raty (2010) found that family influence on school achievement becomes weaker during middle school and high school as compared with the elementary school years. Parents continued to be most influential regarding children's long term educational plans. It is imperative to note that the home background of the child psychologically, socially, economically with the school influences greatly contribute to her success or failure in school. McIntosh (2007) stated that a child‘s involvement might be strong or weak varying with her family understanding and acceptance of their respective ends and means her psychology and ongoing experience of the school. It might vary from commitment to alienation. According to literatures (Melhuish, Phan, Sylva, Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford & Taggart, 2008), most families of underachieving students have been affected by poverty and come from low socioeconomic homes. Many of these students are raised in a home headed by single parents who are typically females often with poor or limited formal educational background (McKenna et al, 2005). Despite the many challenges single parents face, there are many of them that possess characteristics that encourage their children to be academically successful. 59 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Literatures have indicated that being a single parent does not automatically hinder children from achieving (Amato & Fowler, 2002). It was the parenting style that affected the outcomes. In fact, the single parents had a higher rate of parental monitoring which yielded positive outcomes in adolescent functioning. Even though one parent is the head of the household in single parent homes, many single parents incorporate extended family members as a means of a support system for the family. This is a common practice among racially/ethnically diversed minority families. Single parents do not automatically represent risk factors, but can be great role models of resiliency to encourage their children. Students may come from families that are mobile, that is, always changing environment. Melhuish, et al. (2008) explained that the number of low income families has increased, but the number of low income housing has decreased. This limits the housing choices for low income families and often leaves the family with the option of living with family or friends for a limited time or being homeless. This causes students to experience frequent changes in schools because of their family‘s repeated relocations. The frequent relocations force students to have to quickly adjust to a new environment. Frequently relocating has an additional effect on the students‘ academic achievement. Relocating can place low achieving students even further behind academically (Haan & Wissink, 2013) External factors include caring adults, consistent discipline, parental involvement, opportunities for service to others, and social competence. Melhuish et al (2008) noted that family factors include nurturing during the early years of life from an array of caregivers, the availability of sibling caregivers, and structure and rules in the household. Thus, a child‘s close bond with a caregiver during the first years of life is an important protective factor. Also, supportive and involved parents (Martin & Marsh, 2008) have a positive effect on children. Gutman, Sameroff, and Eccles (2002) stated that consistent discipline and high parental involvement have positive effects on a child‘s academic achievement. While active involvement in acts of helpfulness would foster resilience. Bernard (2004) identified social competence and caring teachers. Other external factors include role models outside the family, such as teachers, mentors, coaches, clergy, neighbours, and counsellors (Melhuish et al, 2008). 60 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Family Systems Approach The family systems perspective conceptualize the family as an organized whole of social interactions in which all family members are interdependent and interconnected (Raty & Hasanen, 2013). Rather than focusing on the particular components and separate parts of a system, the family systems approach emphasizes the interactions between multiple parts within the system (White & Klein, 2002). That is, the family is an emotional unit where behaviours of each member are reciprocally influenced by the organization of the family as a system. In that framework, family members respond and adjust to each other‘s needs and expectations (White & Klein, 2002). Each member is expected to play a role in the system, and fulfil the agreed upon definitions of a particular role. Connectivity and reactivity between family members further make individuals interdependent (White & Klein, 2002). As these social interactions are repeated, boundaries and patterns develop in the family that either maintain the equilibrium in the system or change the existing patterns to achieve equilibrium (Raty & Hasanen, 2013). The family systems approach further states that families are complex, organized, and emotional systems where subsystems of dyadic relationships (parent- child subsystem, sibling sub-system, spouse subsystem) also exist (Raty & Hasanen, 2013). These sub-systems interact with each other and are influenced by the behaviours of the family members. In this reciprocal relationship, the individual not only affects the dynamics of sub systems and the system as a whole, but is also influenced by the systems within which he/she is nested (Raty & Hasanen, 2013). That is, behaviour of a particular family member creates a cycle of interaction between family members in the family system which is hypothesized to result in feedback to that family member (White & Klein, 2002). The family systems have been also utilized in understanding psychopathology within the family. Contrary to the individualistic perspective of psychiatry, the family systems approach conceptualizes psychopathology as a symptom of malfunction within the family system, rather than a symptom of a personal disorder that the family member is suffering from (White & Klein, 2002). Moreover, it is claimed that psychopathology of a family member initiates a circular interaction pattern, having an impact on the functioning of the whole family system as well as its subsystems which in turn influences the individual (Walsh, 2002). Given that the family systems approach 61 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY provides an adequate perspective in understanding complex interactions in both normative and dysfunctional families, some researchers claim that this approach could be integrated with the construct of resilience (Chui, 2010). Since the eco- systemic/ecological framework of resilience focuses on the specific layers and domains of systems that the individual is nested in, it is suggested that family context as a micro-system of development could be conceptualized and analyzed from a family systems perspective. From a family systems perspective, the dynamic interplay between risk and protective factors influence not only the individual, but all subsystems of family and the family system as a whole. Since the members are connected, resilience might occur in family interaction patterns as the adaptive response of one particular member repeats itself for the sake of maintaining the equilibrium. In line with that integrative approach, protective mechanisms in the family resilience coincide with the characteristics of well functioning families in when using a systems perspective. That is, family cohesion and connectedness are protective for family members (Walsh, 2002). Risk factors, on the other hand, reveal the characteristics of chronically stressed families, such as high levels of conflict, abuse and hostility (Walsh, 2002). 2.1.7 Academic Test Anxiety This is a situation-specific trait that refers to the anxiety or worry state that is experienced during examination. It is a condition of persistent and uncontrollable nervousness and worry that is triggered by anticipatory of future, memories of past or ruminations over day to day events. This could be trivial or major with disproportionate fears of catastrophic consequences. Observable behaviours of anxiety can be noticed after a teacher to student questioning, and behaviours exhibited may include perspiration, excessive movement and so on (Becker & Luthar, 2002). Anxiety, according to Williams (2000) is a vague concept that has many meanings, measures and operational definition. Anxiety is an unpleasant emotion experienced as dread, scare, alarm, fright, trepidation, horror or panic Dogan & Coban, 2010). It is an unpleasant complex and variable pattern of behavior students exhibit in reaction to internal (thoughts and feelings) or external stimuli (Odinko & Adeyemo, 1999). Adeyemo and Adetona (2007) explained anxiety to have various forms of manifestation which can have handicapping effects and thus, incapacititate, both 62 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY physiologically and cognitively. Anxiety, in moderate form, has been explained as an effective stressor which gear students to study (Capella & Weinstein, 2001; Aremu & Oluwole, 2001). Academic test anxiety is another important variable often related to academic achievement. Academic anxiety implies the debilitating experiences of anxiety as described by Dogan and Coban (2010), during the preparation for a test or during the test itself (Jing, 2007). Minimal amount of anxiety can mobilize human beings to respond rapidly and efficiently, but excessive amount of anxiety may foster poor response and sometimes inhibit response (Esquivel, Doll & Oades-Sese, 2011). Academic anxiety makes it hard for students to concentrate on test and perform adequately. Chapell, Blanding, Takahashi, Silverstein, Newman, Gubi, and McCann (2005) showed that academic anxiety has negative correlation with academic achievement. Similarly, Cassady and Johnson (2002) and Jing (2007), maintained that academic test anxiety is negatively correlated with academic achievement. The origin of academic anxiety is often explained with interference model; this model postulates that during test, students with academic anxiety focus on task irrelevant stimuli, which negatively affect the performance (Doll, Jones, Osborn, Dooley, & Turner, 2011). They further noted that this interference could be classified into physical distraction, such as increase in awareness of heightened autonomic activity and inappropriate cognitions. Oresanya (2007) explained that if a student‘s fear is strong, it can interfere during a test denying the student the ability to recall materials learnt. The discomfort associated with such encounter is called the early sensory form of anxiety (Oresanya, 2007). This led to failure and may facilitate a break in the student‘s academic pursuits. Anxiety cuts across intelligence as it‘s effect during a test on a brilliant student will result in underachievement. Considering Ingels and Dalton (2008) summation that for a normal and effective functioning, some balance need to be achieved. There is need for a student to be free of anxiety to promote academic resilience in schools. Morakinyo (2005) said the cause of anxiety can be internal or external. The internal stimuli are made up of thoughts and feelings of concern about events and development around the student. The external stimuli are environmental situations which give the student concern and fear. Academic anxiety evokes fearful responses such that academic resilience is disturbed and hindered (Doll, et. al., 2011). 63 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Mojoyinola (2001) identified the trait exhibited by high test anxious students as expiration, panic, tenseness, nervousness and many others. There has also been a general consensus that most male and female students who are underachievers in schools are mostly anxious (Owens & Shaw, 2003). Several causes of academic test anxiety are related to internal aspects of the student, including self-image, motivation, and attitudes. Specifically, students may experience academic test anxiety if they have negative self-images and lack confidence in their abilities, if they dislike the subject, course, and/or instructor, or if they have histories of poor performance on examinations in general or in the course. Students' mental states can greatly affect their performance on exams and their vulnerability to academic anxiety. The Worry component of academic anxiety refers to evaluative concerns about one‘s performance (Borman & Overman, 2004). Thus, in evaluative situations, test- anxious individuals become preoccupied with implications and consequences of examination failure that prevent them from engaging in task-oriented thinking (Doll, et al, 2011). On the other hand, the affective component of academic anxiety includes objective symptoms of physiological arousal as well as more subjective interpretations of emotional arousal (Ergene, 2011). Emotionality refers to this affective component of academic anxiety; it involves subjective awareness and interpretation of physiological arousal in evaluative situations (France, Pierrakos, Russell & Anderson, 2010). The Worry and Emotionality components of academic anxiety can be differentiated though their temporal patterns and their impact on academic achievement. In general, Emotionality tends to be more transient and rises immediately before the test and typically diminishes over the course of the exam. Worry, on the other hand, is more enduring, is aroused several days before the exam, and persists throughout the course of the examination (Ergene, 2011). The differential impact of Emotionality and Worry factors of academic anxiety on performance has been well documented (Esquivel, Doll, & Oades-Sese, 2011). Theory on Academic Test Anxiety Several theories and models have been proposed over the years to understand academic test anxiety in terms of its nature, causes, effects, and correlates. One line of reasoning attributes poor performance of high test-anxious individuals to the interfering effects of anxiety in evaluative situations. This perspective, known as the 64 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY interference model, assumes that academic anxiety interferes with retrieval of previously learned information in test situations by producing task-irrelevant responses (Becker & Luthar, 2002). A number of theorists have built on and expanded upon this notion. However, the validity of these theories came into question when treatments designed to reduce academic anxiety were successful in reducing anxiety but failed to show a corresponding and significant increase in academic achievement (Capella & Weistein, 2001). Colson (2010) proposed a relationship between unrealistically high parental expectations and a critical parenting style and academic anxiety in children. They theorized that as these children advance in school, they become afraid to fail in evaluative situations for fear of parental criticism. 2.1.8 Peer Influence Peer group is an important socialization agent. Participating in peer group activities is a primary stage of development and adolescents‘ identities are often closely associated with that of their peers (Davies & Aurini, 2006).According to these researchers since peer groups are a key part of the developmental process, they can have a negative effect on students through peer pressure and conformity. Thus, higher degrees of peer pressure, which is those from others influencing the student to participate in certain activities, and peer conformity which is the degree to which an individual adopts actions that are sanctioned by their peer group have been shown to reduce the likelihood of academic resilience. Keys and Bemak (1998) described how some students who live in a community that is under distress because it is afflicted with violence, drugs, family instability, and poverty. Peer affiliation and influence can reinforce inappropriate behaviors in students and affect their psychological well being (Ceballo, Aretakis, & Ramirez, 2001; Paige, 2001). Academic mediation theory describes the association other variables, such as, antisocial behaviour and dropout status as related to poor academic achievement. The general deviance theory describes the relationship deviant behavior and attitudes have on students‘ potential for dropping out of school. Students that decide to drop out of school may have friends that possess deviant attitudes and engage in deviant behavior. Deviant affiliation theory explains how the social constructs of adolescents can impact their academic achievement and eventually 65 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY influence their decision about remaining in school. Structural strains theory describes the influence demographic and individual characteristics, such as socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity, have on the decision of staying in school. The results indicated that general deviance, bonding to antisocial peers, and low socioeconomic status predicted the likelihood of dropping out of school. Peer group influences do play important roles in academic achievement (Guay, Ratelle, Roy & Litalien, 2010). Peer groups exert a significant influence on academic positively and negatively. Most academics recognize that a child peer groups can have an impact on achievement (Kirk, 2006). Peer groups are important socialization agent. Participating in peer group activities is a primary stage of development and adolescent identities are often closely associated with that of their peers (Santor, Messervey & Kusumakar, 2000). They further maintained that because peer groups are a key part of the developmental process, these groups can have negative effect on young people due to peer pressure and peer conformity. This is mainly because a child peer group influences the academic resilience of the student and these influences begin at the very start of formal education. Thus, adolescent relationship with peers would affect their beliefs about the values of school, their own academic competence, their motivation and subsequent academic achievement. Theory on Peer Influence Peer influence occurs through many modes and can occur directly or diffusely, and intentionally or unintentionally (Brown, D'Emidio-Caston & Benard, 2001). Multiple peer influences operate simultaneously, and the process is a reciprocal transaction. Dishion and Dodge (2006) described an ecological framework for understanding peer influence processes at several levels, from the individual cognitive level (where self and other-labelling and related perceptual processes operate) through micro-social interactions with peers to broader cultural influences that operate on individual behaviour through neighbourhood conditions, organizational characteristics, and learning conditions that peers afford in schools. The most detailed description of micro-social peer dynamics has been provided by Dishion‘s observations of peer group conversations which have been coded and subjected to sequential analysis (Dishion & Dodge, 2006). This work has led to the deviancy training model (Dishion, Piehler, & Myers, 2008). This model starts with 66 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY reinforcement theory, in which attention and rewards are given to individuals for their deviant talk. The deviancy training process consists of contingent, positive responses (laughter, smiles, and verbal praise) for talk about engaging in deviant behaviour. These responses to deviant talk are tantamount to reinforcement of the deviant behaviour itself. In prospective analyses of two hundred and six 13-year-old boys who had been video-recorded conversing with their best friends, Dishion‘s group found that high rates of deviancy training processes predicted growth in substance use, delinquency, and violent behaviour, Furthermore, deviancy training mediated the continuity and growth in antisocial behaviour after controlling for past behaviour (Patterson, 2001). As predicted by the matching law, adolescents whose friendships were characterized by deviancy training were more likely than others to continue antisocial behaviour ten years later into adulthood (Dishion, Nelson, Winter & Bullock, 2004). Characteristics of the peers, such as salience and status (Cohen & Prinstein, 2006), and characteristics of the relationship, such as timing and power dynamics (Crosnoe & Needham, 2004), alter the likelihood and impact of peer influences. Peer pressure is the most commonly assumed mode, in which peers exert direct attempts to impose attitudes or behaviours that can be either negative or positive. Behavioural displays provide models that are reinforced directly or vicariously through processes of social learning (Bandura, 1999). Antagonistic behaviours include teasing, ridicule, bullying, and intimidation. Behavioural reinforcement occurs through verbal and nonverbal cues of interest, agreement, and approval for certain behaviours over others. Granic and Dishion (2003) observed peer conversation patterns and identified ―deviant talk‖ as a process through which peers reinforce antisocial behaviours. Structuring opportunities operate indirectly by facilitating behaviours through exposure, such as when a peer brings a youth to an unchaperoned party or when a member of a gang is exposed to lucrative drug markets. Not all adolescents are equally susceptible to peer influence (Steinberg, 2005), and adolescents who are especially prone to influence have been labelled as having an ―extreme peer orientation‖ (Fuligni, Eccles, Barber, & Clements, 2001; Goldstein, Davis-Kean, & Eccles, 2005). Allen, Porter, and McFarland (2006) observed that adolescents who are highly susceptible to peer-influence are at elevated risk for a 67 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY variety of maladjustment outcomes including risky behaviours, friendship instability, and depression. Cognitive Mechanisms of Peer Influence The processes through which peers influence an adolescent occur through social interaction as described above but are mediated through social cognition. Gibbons, Pomery, and Gerrard (2008) suggested that the influence of peers can be understood through analysis of processes in decision-making. Theories of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) maintain that the probability of behaviour (substance use or participation in a team sport) depends on judgments of its costs and benefits. If peers hold high value among adolescents, then peers influence behaviour by influencing an adolescent‘s perceptions of the costs and benefits of engaging in behaviour. When confronted with an illegal substance at a teen party, an adolescent weighs the various benefits of using the substance (perhaps high peer reward, high sensation value, and physiological pleasure) against the costs (perhaps risk of adult sanction, damage to one‘s body) and generates a decision called behavioural intention. Peers influence these judgments by offering direct reinforcement for behaviours as well as by biasing perceptions about reinforcement. Furthermore, Fontaine and Dodge (2006) differentiated between the value placed on an outcome (―How much would you like being congratulated by peers?‖) and the evaluation of the likelihood of that outcome occurring given a behaviour (―How likely is it that peers would congratulate you if you acted this way?‖). Gibbons, Pomery, and Gerrard (2008) suggested that the reasoned action account of behaviour must be supplemented by an understanding of the subtleties of adolescent peer transactions, one of which they call behavioural willingness (BW). BW is defined as openness to a risk opportunity. When questioned in a laboratory about the costs and benefits of a deviant behaviour such as substance use, an adolescent may be likely to express low BI for substance use. It is well known that context exerts powerful influence over this judgment, though, such that if questioned while at a party among imbibing peers, the decision may shift toward substance use. An intervening decision is whether to attend the party in the first place, called BW. Adolescents display high BW, which means that they are ready to decide to enter contexts in which their decisions may shift. Pomery, Gibbons, Reis-Bergan, and 68 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Gerrard (2009) observed that behavioural outcomes among young adolescents are more strongly predicted by BW than by BI and that the shift toward stronger reliance on BI over BW does not occur until about age 17 or 18, which roughly corresponds to the age when both peer conformity and risk preference begin to decline as well. Finally, it is likely that individual differences in BI and BW are based in temperament and related biological factors, and these factors interact with peer processes across adolescence. Peers can influence individual decision making processes even without direct interaction. Prinstein and Wang (2005), for example, opined that adolescents tend to over-estimate the problem behaviour of their peers. To the extent that an adolescent seeks favour with the peer group, she or he may try to emulate the kind and level of problem behaviour that she or he believes occurs. Given the high sensation value and salience of deviant talk in peer interactions (Dishion, Piehler & Meyers, 2008), these over-estimates may be self-perpetuating. 2.1.9 Study Habit The behavioural plan or pattern that a student adopts in grasping the content of school subjects he is taught in school in order to achieve academic success is termed study habit. Study habits to cite Davies and Aurini (2006) are behaviours that are manifested by learners without any form of coercion. Thus, these behaviors are directed at effective learning. Dobbs (2009) explain study habit as a student‘s way of studying whether systematically efficient or inefficient. Uwakwe, Oke and Aire (2000) noted that students fail not because they are not brilliant but because they have poor study habits and plan. Students who are academically resilient are likely to engage in good study habits. School related factors affected the academic achievement of African American students. Researchers found that the educational experiences of European-American students were influenced by socioeconomic factors, whereas the educational outcomes for African American students were more related to school factors (Downey, 2008). Thus, the poor quality of classroom instruction coupled with the quality of their school environment found in many urban schools negatively affected their academic achievement (Dobbs, 2009). In this wise, the school environment either facilitated or constrained classroom instruction and student learning. 69 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2.2 Empirical Review 2.2.1 Academic Resilience Increasingly, researchers (Reis & McCoach, 2000) have begun to look at the flip side of risk, and instead have focused on the factors that enable students to ―beat the odds‖ against achieving academic success. Borrowing primarily from the field of developmental psychology, a growing body of educational research has identified individual attributes that promote academic resiliency. Developmental psychologists, such as Fuligni, Eccles, Barber and Clements (2001) and Rutter (2006) have recognized that among groups believed to be at high risk for developing particular difficulties, many individuals emerge unscathed by adversity. The observation that only one out of four children of alcoholic parents will become an alcoholic is a familiar example of this phenomenon (Bernard, 2004). This means that the for resilience varies from individual to individual, and it may grow or decline over time capacity, depending in part, on protective factors within the person that might prevent or mitigate the negative impacts of stressful situations or conditions (Henderson & Milstein, 2003). Reis and McCoach (2000) suggested that the impact of culture on academic achievement should not be ignored when considering academic resilience in schools, especially for foreigners. They maintained that these students face unique barriers to achievement, such as language problems. Minority students for example, are frequently underrepresented in programmes for gifted and talented students (Wiersema & Licklider, 2005). Furthermore, people within particular sub-cultures may define achievement different ways from that of the dominant culture. Student performance varies at different times, and could be better depending on the degree of preparation before examinations. Yet the same student with the same amount of preparation may not perform as well as at other times. The failure to perform to the optimum could be attributed to factors external to the student‘s intellectual and cognitive ability. Such factors could include emotional problems or behavioural/maturational issues (Davis, Burnette, Allison & Stone, 2011). Lee (2009) used the following theoretical models to predict the potential for early disengagement from school: academic mediation theory, general deviance theory, deviant affiliation theory, poor family socialization theory, and structural strains theory. The study conducted revealed that poor academic achievement is not 70 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY the only variable that impacts on students‘ decision to disengage from school. Other variables such as academic anxiety, motivation, parental influence, academic self efficacy interact with poor academic achievement. Colbert, Reis and Hebert (2005) study revealed that the underachieving students did not begin to underachieve until they reached high school; mainly because, the ethos they are exposed to differs from what they have been used to. In this light, underachievers perceive school as boring and see classes as not match their learning styles. They also have negative interactions with teachers and have peers who did not care about school. Apart from this, the underachievers had negative interactions with family members such as inconsistent role models, sibling rivalries, and inappropriate parental expectations. Some of the high achieving students also had short periods of underachieving, but they were able to bounce back. This is because the high achievers have clear, positive, outlook for the future and high school experiences, negative and positive, helped to prepare them for the future. Both high achievers and low achievers had family problems such as divorced parents; however, the students differed on how they handled such problems. Furthermore, both groups had socio-economic problems, though a majority of the high achievers‘ parents were employed. In a study they conducted on resilience in Australia, Martin and Marsh (2008) found that five factors related strongly to academic resilience: planning, control, self- efficacy, persistence, and low anxiety. In addition to this, the results also showed that academic resilience predicts three educational and psychological outcomes which are self-esteem, participation, and enjoyment of school. Bamaca-Colbert, Gayles, and Lara (2011) used a person-centered approach to examine patterns of adjustment along psychological (depression, self-esteem, anxiety) and academic (academic motivation) domains. Four adjustment profiles were identified. A High Functioning group, which exhibited high positive adjustment and academic functioning, an Average Functioning group, which exhibited average psychological and academic functioning, an Academically Oriented and Stressed group, which exhibited high academic motivation, but poor psychological functioning in anxiety and negative effect, and a Low Functioning group, which exhibited poor adjustment overall. Further, paternal and maternal parenting characteristics (i.e., autonomy granting, parent-adolescent conflict, and supportive parenting) were 71 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY differentially related to adolescents' profiles, providing further evidence for the existence of the profiles. The essence of this study was to bring into focus the difference in students academic resilience capacities and the effect of parenting in developing this variance. Lee, Kwong, Cheung, Ungar and Cheung (2010) investigated the relationship between resilience-related beliefs and positive child development. Three waves of data collection (T1, T2, and T3) were completed in January 2005, July 2005, and January 2006. The results revealed that children's resilience is predictive of positive child development, and that this predictive relationship was stronger with increasing adversity in children's lives. Chun and Dickson (2011) addressed Hispanic adolescents' academic achievement by investigating the relationships of parental involvement, culturally responsive teaching, sense of school belonging, and academic self-efficacy and academic achievement. Participants were 478 (51.5% female) Hispanic 7th graders in the US-Mexico borderlands. Based on Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological systems theory, a structural model was tested. Results showed that the proposed model was supported by demonstrating significant indirect effects of parental involvement, culturally responsive teaching, and sense of school belonging on academic achievement. Furthermore, academic self-efficacy was found to mediate the relationships between parental involvement, culturally responsive teaching, and sense of school belonging and academic achievement. 2.2.2 Academic Locus of Control and Academic Resilience In a study of Australian college students, Deater-Deckard, Ivy & Smith (2006) found that there was little relationship between locus of control and first year college academic success. This finding was in line with the view that internal locus of control is related to the deep level learning which is more likely to lead to higher quality of learning outcomes. Adeyemo (2007) also found that poor academic achievement is associated with low perceived control. Students with an internal control orientation benefit more from quality instrument than do their external peers. This study, therefore, points out that attributions retraining on external-locus at-risk are likely to lead to improvement in academic achievement as long as instruction is adequate. This means that apart 72 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY from the influence of locus of control on academic achievement, some mediatory variables, such as the quality of instruction, and learning approaches at study skills are in play. In a study conducted on school phobia and truancy, Deater-Deckard, Ivy & Smith (2006) reported and perceived personnel control or acceptance of personnel responsibility for learning is found to be associated with higher academic achievement among Filipino students. According to Leak (2003) two variables contributed significantly to the GPAs of African-American males: internal locus of control and preference for long-term goals. Students with higher scores on internal locus of control were more likely to have higher GPAs than those with lower scores on internal locus of control. Students with lower preferences for long-term goals had higher GPAs than students with higher preferences for long-term goals. In the regression of cumulative credit hours on the predictor variables, none of the predictor variables contributed to the variance in cumulative credits for the male African-American students in the study. 2.2.3 Academic Self-efficacy and Academic Resilience Becker and Luthar (2002) concluded that consistent with previous researchers, precollege academic self-efficacy generally led a unique position, direct influences on collegiate academic high school achievement even when other factors such as high school achievement and degree aspiration were taken into account. In Nigeria, significant number of studies have been carried out on self-concept and it‘s influences on academic achievement. In another study conducted by Ergene (2011) involving students‘ attitude to unstructural questioning, critical thinking and study habits as they affect learning outcomes, exerted a direct, positive influence on academic achievement in Economics. With respect to students‘ attitude to Economies, self-concept was found to exert an indirect influence through study habit. The findings of Odinko and Adeyemo (1999) showed that self-concept contributes significantly to achievement in some subjects – English language and Mathematics respectively. However, Okwilagwe (1999) in a study that constructed and tested a model for providing a causal explanation of undergraduate students‘ 73 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY academic achievement in terms of seen cognitive and non-cognitive variables, revealed that self-concept had an indirect effect on academic achievement. Research has equally shown that academic self-efficacy is significantly related to achievement (Aydin, 2010). Using a similar path model, Chapmen and Tinner (1995) found that reaching performance of beginning readers during their first year of schooling has a stronger effect on their subsequent self-efficacy than on their reading self-concepts. Joo, Bong and Choi (2000) found that students self-efficacy for self- regulated learning is positively related to their academic self-efficacy, strategy use and internet self-efficacy. Lim (2001) indicated that self-efficacy in computer knowledge was the only statistically significant variable that can help predict the achievement. Joet, Usher, and Bressoux (2011) assessed the influence of Bandura's (1999) theorized sources of self-efficacy on the academic and self-regulatory efficacy beliefs of 3rd-grade elementary school students in France. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that mastery experience, social persuasions, and mean classroom-level self- efficacy predicted mathematics self-efficacy. All four sources predicted self-efficacy for self-regulated learning in both subjects, with the exception of vicarious experience in French. Classroom-level variables did not predict self-efficacy for self-regulated learning in either subject. Boys outperformed girls in mathematics and reported higher mathematics self-efficacy, self-regulatory efficacy, mastery experience, social persuasions, and lower physiological arousal. In French, girls outperformed boys but reported lower self-efficacy. Phan (2011) used latent growth curve modelling (LGM) to explore the initial states and trajectories of self-efficacy and the two major learning approaches--surface and deep--over a two-year period. Furthermore, both gender and academic experience were regressed as possible external correlates that could account for the change in the two theoretical frameworks. The study revealed that there is a negative impact of academic experience on the change in self-efficacy and a positive impact of academic experience on the initial states of self-efficacy and surface learning approach. Van Dinther, Dochy, and Segers (2011) investigated the role of students' self- efficacy in education. The results show that educational programmes have the possibility to enhance students' self-efficacy, and those educational programmes based on social cognitive theory proved to be particularly successful on this score. Several 74 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY factors appeared to influence students' self-efficacy and provided evidence of the potency of the main sources of self-efficacy. Gold (2010) examined the relationship between self-efficacy and academic achievement. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Self-Efficacy was used to measure nine areas of self-efficacy: enlisting social resources, academic achievement, self-regulated learning, leisure-time skill and extracurricular activities, self-regulatory efficacy to resist peer pressure, meet others' expectations, social self-efficacy, self- assertive efficacy, and enlisting parental and community support. The dependent variable, academic achievement, was measured by students' GPA. Pearson correlations were used to test for relationships between GPA and self-efficacy. The relationships between GPA and self-efficacy scores were statistically significant for the following five subscales: social self efficacy, resisting peer pressure, self- assertiveness, academic achievement, and meeting expectations of others. Higher self- efficacy scores were associated with higher GPA for female students only. In general, self-efficacy scores were lowest for enlisting parental or community support, self- regulated learning, and leisure time skills and extracurricular activities. No relationship was found between GPA and self-efficacy for enlisting social resources, leisure-time skills, and extracurricular activities, or enlisting parental and community support. The recommendations of this study include developing self-efficacy of female students and exploring other contributing factors to high academic achievement in at-risk males. Corkett, Hatt, and Benevides (2011) examined the relationship between teacher self-efficacy, student self-efficacy, and student ability. Teachers' perceptions of the students' self-efficacy was significantly correlated with students' abilities; however, student literacy self-efficacy was not correlated with their literacy ability. Additionally, there was no correlation between the teachers' perception of the students' literacy self-efficacy and the students' literacy self-efficacy. Finally, the teachers' self-efficacy was significantly correlated with their perception of the students' self-efficacy. Mercer, Nellis, Martinez and Kirk (2011) examined academic self-efficacy and perceived teacher support in relation to academic skill growth across one academic year. Results indicated that academic self-efficacy was positively related to fall reading and math CBM scores and that perceived teacher support was unrelated to 75 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY all scores or growth across the academic year. Academic self-efficacy and perceived teacher support interacted in relation to math CBM growth such that low levels of perceived teacher support were related to greater growth, particularly for students with high academic self-efficacy. Follow-up analyses indicated that students with the lowest fall CBM scores and smallest growth rates reported higher levels of perceived teacher support, suggesting that teachers support the students most in need. 2.2.4 Gender and Academic Resilience Using K–8 national longitudinal data, the authors investigated males‘ and females‘ achievement in math and reading, including when gender gaps first appear, whether the appearance of gaps depends on the metric used, and where on the achievement distribution gaps are most prevalent. Additionally, teachers‘ assessments of males and females are compared. The findings show no math gender gap in kindergarten, except at the top of the distribution; however, females throughout the distribution lose ground in elementary school and regain some in middle school. In reading, gaps favoring females generally narrow but widen among low-achieving students. However, teachers consistently rate females higher than males in both subjects, even when cognitive assessments suggest that males have an advantage (Robinson & Lubienski, 2012). Raty and Hasanen (2013) found that schoolgirls have dual notion of their futures, linking their subject choices at school to the local labour market (especially as they mature) while accepting that motherhood and domesticity were important parts of their identity as women. But the girls in this study were not passive in this process of socialization; rather, they absorbed both accepting and undermining messages about traditional female roles. In addition, social class influence different gender roles, with those in the high class and middle-class willing to pursue academic education and thus gaining the approval of the middle-class teachers while the lower class is at a cross road. The study further revealed that parent‘s conceptions of gender roles were also complex and varied according to class position. While middle-class parents were more supportive of the principle of equality of opportunity, middle-class men were most opposed to positive action to achieve it. Working class men were the most supportive of traditional gender roles. In both classes, a minority of mothers strongly supported changes in female‘s social position. This study has shown that 76 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY there is no uniform socialization into one specific gender code. Rather there are conservative and radical views concerning gender roles and academic achievement and different groups of parents choose elements of those agendas in different proportions, which then balance out in their children in different ways. Norman (2001) study showed that girls are expected to play with certain toys, which develop different types of aptitude. These roles may be reflected by aspirations of the children used as participants in her study. However, it could explain a lot of differential process in the development of learning skills exhibited by students. This argument is also seen in Portes and Fernadez-Kelly (2008) study which found that careers ranked much more highly in the order of girls' priorities which could have been a factor contributing to their increasing education achievement. Thomas (2009) found that gender interactions between teachers and students have significant effects on these important educational outcomes. Assignment to a teacher of the opposite sex lowers student achievement by about 0.04 standard deviations. Other results imply that just one year with a male English teacher would eliminate nearly a third of the gender gap in reading performance among 13 year olds and would by so doing improve the performance of boys and simultaneously harm that of girls. Similarly, a year with a female teacher would close the gender gap in science achievement among 13 year olds by half and eliminate entirely the smaller achievement gap in mathematics. Female science teachers appeared to reduce the probability that a girl would be seen as inattentive in science, though this had no discernable effect on girls' science achievement. However, female history teachers significantly raised girls' history achievement. And, boys were more likely to report that they did not look forward to a particular academic subject when it was taught by a female. Overall, the data suggest that, a large fraction of boys‘ dramatic underperformance in reading reflects the classroom dynamics associated with the fact that their reading teachers are overwhelmingly female. According to the U.S. Department of Education's 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey, 91 percent of the nation's sixth grade reading teachers, and 83 percent of eighth grade reading teachers are female. This depresses boys' achievement. The fact that most middle school teachers of math, science, and history are also female may raise girls' achievement. In short, the current gender imbalance in 77 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY middle school staffing may be reducing the gender gap in science by helping girls but exacerbating the gender gap in reading by handicapping boys (Gorman, 2012). National and international results show that male elementary and secondary students do not do as well as girls in reading or writing, appear in special education or drop out statistics more often, and are less likely to become university students. Rutter (2006) also found that males were more likely to have a reading disability, and were twice as likely to have a learning disability. Boys are more likely than girls to attend special schools, and boys are four times as likely as girls to be identified as having a behavioural, emotional and social difficulty. Fewer boys are graduating from secondary schools and fewer boys than girls are going to postsecondary education (Allen & Vaillancourt, 2004). Researches conducted on Social Class and Educational Achievement (Richardson, 2002) revealed that within the anti-school subcultures, male pupils gained status among their peers not through respect for school rules and hard academic work but through disruptive behaviour of various kinds which ultimately would restrict their own academic progress. These researchers concluded that for some working class boys, education was essentially an irrelevance because they hoped in any case to find the kind of physically demanding, unskilled manual work which would confirm their masculinity but which required few educational qualifications. However, academic study and non-manual employment were associated with femininity and therefore dismissed as unsuitable in every respect (Francis, 2000). Covington (1998) found that there is a high performance gap in English, Foreign Languages and Humanities between boys and girls at GCSE level. Girls were revealed to perform better than boys in these areas. This research further revealed that girls have been more heavily socialised from an early age by parents and teachers to read and express opinions on the kind of personal issues which arise in Arts and Humanities subjects. The researcher observed this as a more feminine trait. Gorman (2012) revealed that teachers spend huge amounts of time on the investigation of boys' relative underachievement which may undermine the notions that they fail to take unruly behaviour seriously owing to the negative labelling and stereotypes they attached with boys‘ behaviour. However, insufficient attention has 78 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY been given to the possibilities that boys and girls learn in different ways and may therefore need different types of teaching. Using PISA data, the 2007 State of Learning in Canada: No Time for Complacency report found that for 2000, 2003 and 2006, girls‘ score on average 32 points higher than boys in reading, and boys have more difficulties in language and learning. Also, more males declared themselves to be non readers and were more likely to be secondary school dropouts (66%). In 2002 (Murdock, Anderman & Hodge, 2000), 11% more female students than males met the expected level in writing. In 2000, while Canada ranked second in reading, (the UK ranked seventh, the US fifteenth, and Germany 21st), more alarming is that PISA confirmed the significant gender gap in reading and writing in all participating countries. In every country, girls performed significantly better than boys on reading and writing tests: in top-ranked Finland, girls scored 51 points higher in reading; in Canada girls scored 32 points higher, and in the USA, although students scored 53 points behind Finland, boys still scored 28 points lower than girls. In Ontario, in grade 3 Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) Literacy Test Scores, English-speaking boys scored 21% and 17% lower (for reading and writing respectively) than girls (2003/04), with only 48% and 50% meeting the provincial standard (Government of Ontario 2006). For grade 6, scores were better, but boys still scored 14% and 9% lower and only 51% and 45% met provincial standards. While French-speaking boys fare better initially than their English speaking counterparts, scoring 14% and 17% lower than girls in grade 3, the gap widens with their scores deteriorating further in grade 6, to 16% and 18% lower. On the 2003/04 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, 7% more English-speaking boys failed than girls (French-speaking, 11% more). Similar to other Canadian provinces, the US, the UK and Australia, Ontario teachers (Dishion & Dodge, 2006) identify persistent differences between boys‘ and girls‘ scores in both achievement and attitude in reading and writing (Elliott-John & Bruce, 2010). Elliot-John and Bruce (2010) identified contributors to the problem: compared to girls, boys tend to take longer to learn to read, read less, estimate their reading abilities lower than girls, are more likely to give themselves the label of ‗nonreader‘, express less enthusiasm about reading and do not value reading as an activity. The New Brunswick English Language Arts Proficiency Assessment (Miles & Richmond, 79 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2002) also revealed boys are significantly less successful than girls. In 1999 on the provincial Grade 8 Language Arts test, 40% of Core English Fredericton boys were unsuccessful compared to 31% of girls. The 2000 results show little change and call for intervention. In the US 1998 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) results, 16% more female students scored proficient in writing and 10% more in reading, and in 2000, females outperformed boys at all age levels, a larger gap than in 1998, despite accommodations (Dishion & Lansford, 2006). In 2002, while Massachusetts and Connecticut have improved across the board, males score on average 24 points lower than females by the 12th grade, and 75% of this gap was apparent by grade four. This is the same gap between African- American and white students, without the unfortunate but logical explanation afforded by social inequities (Newmann, 2002). The 2005 NAEP results replicated this worrisome trend toward a gender literacy gap, finding a 16% gap in writing, and a 12% gap in reading (O‘Sullivan, Lauko, Grigg, Qian & Zhang, 2003; Taylor, 2004; Baer, Baldi, Ayotte, & Green, 2007; Salahu-Din, Persky & Miller, 2008;). Since the early 1990s, boys‘ underachievement has received its requisite attention in England where, similar to other OECD countries, the large gender gap has been stable over two decades (Healey 2005). Girls in England are ahead of boys at all levels of education starting in the early years, with the highest difference in Key Stage 2 English and Key Stage 4 results. Girls have also consistently out-performed boys on the GCSEs since they were first introduced in 1988. Healey (2005) asserted that girls‘ literacy results in England have been relatively stable over the past 25 years, until now girls achieve higher average marks in a majority of Year 12 subjects, while boys‘ results have decreased to the point where 35% of 14-year-old boys fail to reach basic literacy benchmarks. Similar to Canada, ―Boys‘ literacy achievement in years 3 and 5 now lags behind that of girls by 4.5 percentage points. Year 12 retention rates are 11 per cent higher for girls, driving a 6 per cent higher rate of university entry‖ (Healey 2005). The 2007 report Gender and education: The evidence on pupils in England by the Department for Children, Schools and Family (DCSF) supports these conclusions. Also, a large-scale collaborative study between the University of Warwick and King‘s College (Rutter, 2006), found that boys are more likely to have developmental difficulties and of the 15 percent of children with a learning disability, boys are twice as likely to have dyslexia. Contrary to research that is open to criticism (attributing 80 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY results to boys‘ disruptive behavior), they did not focus on children diagnosed with learning difficulties, but used a representative sample, providing support for gender differences. Also in England, the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted, 2002) report, The Gender Divide, first identified boys‘ lack of engagement with literacy as significant (OECD, 2012). However, the 1998 Ofsted report warned against blanket statements regarding attitudes or attainment in dealing with complex underachievement problems in literacy. The Centre for Language in Primary Education (now the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education) also found problems related to motivation or frustration with extended reading or rewriting (Barrs & Pidgeon, 2002, Safford, O‘Sullivan & Barrs 2004). In the same vein, Ofsted (2003) found that the gap in attainment between boys and girls continues to be an issue. His study reveals that boys are behind in English language on entering secondary school and this gap does not disappear during the secondary years. Condie (2006) further found that in Scottish schools, girls outperform boys at all levels. In an attempt to rectify the extreme literacy gap between boys and girls in Wales, Estyn (2008) conducted research which reveals that fewer boys than girls acquire the level of literacy necessary to succeed. In addition to this, a significant minority of boys at age 14 cannot keep pace with much of the work at school and experience an increasing sense of frustration and failure as a result. Turning to a discussion of statistics on dropouts, graduation and post- secondary enrolment, Statistics Canada reported that undergraduate enrolment for males dropped five per cent, decreasing from 47% to 42% between 1993 and 2002 (Allen & Vaillancourt, 2004). Likewise, Healey (2005) reported a repeat of the gender gap trend at English universities, with higher retention rates for girls (Year 12 completion, 11% higher, university entry, 6% higher). Younger (2007), however, noted that despite boys‘ poor showings at university, middle-class boys in England still perform better than working class girls: one-third of the 40,000 16-year-old drop- outs every year are female, the majority in poor economic situations. He observes that gender only ranks fifth amongst determinants of academic achievement, far behind past performance and social background. Ultimately, he sees the biggest obstacle to literacy as poverty, with factors related to race playing a lesser but important role. 81 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY In the United States, Coley (2001) found that males were less likely to complete high school than White females and Hispanic students (a gap that is increasing). In addition, they were also less likely to complete college preparatory courses than female college-bound students. It was further noted that males were less likely to attend and complete college than females in all racial/ethnic groups except Asian/American students. In fact, females have outnumbered males at United States universities since 1976, and a procedure called "gender weighting" has attempted to redress the imbalance. Distressingly, in the face of a huge disparity between the genders (70% of girls accepted vs. 30% of boys), Chicago's eight selective-enrollment college prep high schools are now considering implementing a similar weighting policy (Rossi, 2006). This is supported by King‘s (2006) report on Gender Equity which found that among the 40 percent of undergraduates over age 25, women outnumbered men two to one. Tach and Farkas (2006) examined ECLS-K data and found that being placed into a higher-ability reading group was positively related to learning behaviors and achievement. Hence, if teachers underestimate males‘ reading abilities, this might negatively affect their learning, particularly if ability grouping is used. Also Raty and Kakkainen (2011) found that teachers tend to view math as a male domain and also tend to have higher expectations for, and better attitudes toward, their male students. In contrast, Kerber (2010) found that teachers tended to rate seventh-grade females‘ performance and effort as higher than that of males but tended to rate their abilities equally. They also found that while teachers‘ perceptions of males‘ and females‘ achievement were accurate, males and females actually reported similar levels of effort. McKown and Weinstein (2002) found that in math, females were more likely than males to be harmed by teachers‘ underestimates of their abilities and were less likely to benefit from teachers‘ overestimates of their abilities. However, no such pattern was found in reading. Overall, there is conflicting evidence about whether teachers tend to rate males‘ or females‘ math performance higher and whether teachers‘ assessments are consistent with direct cognitive assessment (e.g., standardized exams). Much of the existing evidence is rather dated and from a relatively small number of classrooms. There is even less evidence available pertaining to teachers‘ expectations of males and females in reading. 82 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY The term ‗good girls‘ is a factor that may underlie teachers‘ discrepant views of males and females is the socialization of females into ‗‗good-girl‘‘ roles. The effects of this socialization may be evident in several ways in school. For example, females tend to earn higher grades, even in math and science (Forgasz & Leder, 2001). Ready, LoGerfo, Lee and Burkam (2005) found that the majority of the gender gap in kindergarten literacy learning could be explained by the tendency for females to exhibit more positive learning approaches (on-task behavior) than males. Additionally, more young males than females report that they engage in ‗‗problem behaviors,‘‘ such as fighting at school (Rathbun, West, & Germino-Hauske, 2004). According to a study by Pianta et al., (2012), teachers tend to refer males for special education services twice as often as females, despite the fact that roughly equal numbers of males and females fall into the ‗‗reading- disabled‘‘ category, according to test results. Similarly, Hibel, Farkas, and Morgan (2006) found that even after accounting for reading and math test scores, males are disproportionately referred to special education. Flynn and Rahbar hypothesize that such differences are likely due to males‘ more disruptive behaviors, and they conclude that females might be noticed only when they are severely struggling, which, they argue, is unfair to females. Correll (2001) found that males were almost 4 times more likely to choose a quantitative college major than females with similar math achievement. Consistent with the hypothesis that girls strive to please the teacher, it was also revealed that teachers‘ feedback (grades) was a greater influence of females‘ self-perceptions than of males‘. She also found that males view themselves as better in math relative to females with equal test scores, but the opposite was true for reading, further indicating that cultural beliefs influence students‘ self perceptions. 2.2.5 Academic Motivation and Academic Resilience Kerber (2010) indicated that students perceived that caring teachers demonstrated the following: (a) fair interaction styles, (b) positive expectations for all students despite their differences, (c) demonstrated a ―caring‖ attitude, and (d) gave students constructive feedback. 83 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Coskun (2010) study revealed that if at-risk students believed that their failure is due to factors out of their control, they are more than likely to give up. Pietsch and Williamson, (2010) found a strong link between student motivation and academic success with at-risk students. It has been shown that student characteristics such as motivation, learning techniques and study habits and gender play important roles in academic resilience. Durna and Senturk (2012) compared high achieving and low achieving Open University students. They examined study habits, purpose for learning, approaches to study, use of support systems, other commitments and self perception. Their findings revealed that motivation is a significant factor that influences academic resilience. In contrast, Lee (2009) examined gender differences in motivational and behavioural learning strategies in the internet based cyber-learning environment and found highly significant gender differences in the category of textual encoding strategies, in which males show stronger behavioural and motivational learning strategies. In a study of tenth grade students from low-income families, Peng and Lee (2006) found that the locus of control was a significant predictor of academic success. Thus, students with higher academic achievement had more self-discipline. In addition, researchers found that successful students had higher ambitions than non- resilient students. Resilient students were motivated by the desire to succeed, to be self-starting, and to be personally accountable for their outcomes. These students valued a strong sense of self-efficacy. They viewed themselves as being successful in view of the fact that they chose to be successful. Therefore, they gave credit to themselves. Condly (2006) found that resilient students used their time positively and were meaningfully involved in school and other activities. Their active participation did not leave much free time. Involvement in extracurricular events at school and in other activities seems to provide a safe haven for resilient students. According to the researcher, hobbies, creative interests, and sports promoted the growth of self- confidence and belief in their ability to succeed. Successes in these activities were important in enhancing self-esteem, since they provided recognition and a sense of accomplishment. Philliber (2002) pointed out that the volunteer work of at-risk students offered purpose to their difficult lives. Volunteering also increased their 84 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY caring about others. In addition, students learned that there were people that they could help through these experiences. A review of the scant resiliency literature on African American youth showed that resilient students had self-discipline, had a strong belief in themselves, participated in extracurricular activities, possessed good coping skills, had strong family values, and were often actively involved in religious activities (Ford, 1996). These characteristics were found in resilient youth in general. Furthermore, researchers found that emotional and physical support from their African American peers contributed to their resiliency (Ford, 1996; Garmezy, 1996). Garmezy (1996) reported that African American youth coped more effectively with difficulties when they had someone with whom to share their daily struggles. The ability to make new friends, develop good relationships, and be accepted by peers was associated with school success. Such social skills and competencies were positively related to school adjustments (Gutman, Sameroff & Eccles, 2002). Some researchers also determined that these were also connected with academic outcomes. They maintained that when faced with serious problems, African American males often sought solace and assistance from same sex peers rather than from parents (McCubbin, Thompson, Thompson & Fromer, 2008). The strength and mutual support that African American peers found in each other, especially emotional and physical support, fostered resilience. These characteristics were especially important for minority youth because of the issues they faced, such as disproportionate rates of poverty, unemployment, racism and other forms of discrimination. Patrick, Care and Ainley (2011) found that the best predictive model for students with strong Realistic interests was an interaction of self-efficacy and interest. For Investigative students, both self-efficacy and achievement were best predictors and for Artistic, Social, and Conventional, achievement was the best predictor of future course enrolment. However, Saunders (2010) study showed that adolescents who set intense and specific goals (high goal commitment) will have higher self- efficacy and higher achievement in the math classroom than those students who develop low intensity and vague goals. Research also suggests that student's poor tendencies to set goals oriented toward performance (obtaining a specific test score) versus mastery (understanding specific concepts) may be associated with self-efficacy and performance. 85 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2.2.6 Parental Influence and Academic Resilience Raty and Hasanen (2013) conducted a study on at-risk students. The results of the study suggested socioeconomic status, parental support and participation in the educational process were the factors that had a strong impact on student achievement. Chui (2010) indicated that low family income and minority status were the factors that had more predictive quality of academic achievement. Educators are encouraged to examine the environmental experiences of at-risk students to assess how they might influence academic achievement. In a study conducted by Amato and Fowler (2002), it was found that when parents were highly engaged in supporting and monitoring their children and avoided harsh punishment, the children exhibited higher self-esteem, performed better academically in school, and engaged in less problem behaviors, such as truancy, drinking alcohol, and using drugs. A study conducted by Raty (2010) revealed that positive and supportive parenting influenced a child‘s school readiness and achievement. The other half of Amato and Fowler‘s study (2002) examined the outcomes of self-esteem, academic achievement, and problem behavior across varying family contexts. The results of the second part of the study indicated the parent‘s marital status, race, and socioeconomic status had no effect on positive student outcomes. Washington (2001) found that teachers tend to reflect their personal bias through their interactions with at-risk students in the classroom. Teachers in this study had less interactions and positive feedback with at-risk students. Teachers expected at-risk students to perform at a lower level than the rest of their students based upon their low socioeconomic status and cultural dialect. This resulted in at-risk students performing to the expectations of their teachers. Huebner, Ash and Laughlin (2001) explained various other psychosocial variables influencing underachievement, including ―family relationships socio economic status, peer group relationships and school influences their findings suggested that mothers of underachievers were more controlling and were less confident is how they managed and carried out disciplinary actions‖. In comparison, mothers of achievers allowed their children to be more explorable at an earlier age and did not have difficulties managing their children‘s behaviour; this includes parental separation and divorce. These researchers further said that ―children are 86 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY particularly vulnerable but with proper counseling and support, their academic achievement can improve over time. Few studies have explored the influence of family variables on the achievement of students. Van Tassel (1989) revealed that low SES families held high expectations, aspirations and standards for their children as well as positive achievement orientations. They sought to promote self-competence and independence in their children, parents were described as watchful of their children‘s accomplishments and actively involved in developing their abilities. Previous researches (Miller, 1999) recognized two proceeds of social classes the high and the low socio-economic status. Onocha (1985) and Okpala, Okpala and Smith (2001) used parents‘ level of education and occupation/profession while Abe (1995) included factors such as income materials at home and language settings of the home. It was revealed that parents whose education level is at the secondary school level or above are likely to pursue a secondary education or above and go for better paying jobs – professional men (doctors, lawyers, civil servants and so on) whereas parents who have only primary education- illiterates, petty traders, labourers, bricklayers and so on- end up with very low income jobs. The reasons given for these findings were that students from high socio economic background have access to learning materials at home, which boost their learning readiness; that children from high socio economic background often attend special fee paying school which are generally better than the free secondary schools. However, there are some students that attend fee paying schools that are not doing well academically too. The students from high socio-economic background are performing better in intelligence and achievement test than children from low socio-economic homes. McGloin and Wisdom (2001) found that increased communication with parents about various serious problems has a protective role in poverty, adolescent use of tobacco and alcohol. The findings have shown that a preference for staying with friends rather than parents increased the risk of substance use disorders. The findings also indicated that adolescents less interested in spending more time with their parents might be more apt than others to choose friends who smoke cigarettes or use other substances. In general, the fewer parents are involved in their children‘s daily life the greater is the risk of their children developing substance use disorders, they maintained. 87 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Researchers (Werner & Smith, 2001; Bernard, 2004) identified social support from family members, peers, school, and from the community as an important characteristic of resilient students. Parental support is very important to both middle school and high school students. Thus, these studies found that parents or adult caregivers were the primary sources of emotional support, reality confirmation support, personal assistance support, and technical challenge support for both middle and high school students. High school students also stated that parents were their primary listening support; while middle school students stated that their peers were their primary listening support. For tangible assistance support, middle school students stated that neighbours were primary while high school students stated that their parents and teachers provided their primary tangible support. Weiser and Riggio (2010) results indicated family background features were not robust predictors of academic achievement in the current sample, which limited testable mediation pathways. Evidence was found that self-efficacy does mediate the relationship between parental involvement and expectations of academic success. Results also indicated self-efficacy is a strong and consistent predictor of grade point average and expectations of academic success. Bhalla and Weiss (2010) conducted a study of expectancy-value constructs and highlight cultural variations in parental socialization of achievement cognitions and behaviors in multiple domains. Similarities and differences in perceived parental influence emerged for girls of both cultural groups and in both domains. Jeynes (2010) recent meta-analyses on parental involvement confirmed the salience of more subtle social variables, which Bussey and Bandura (1999) asserted may be even more important than overt parental behavior in fostering positive student outcomes. These results indicate that factors such as parental expectations, the quality of parent-child communication, and parental style may be more highly related to student achievement than various more overt expressions of this involvement. Stevens and Schaller (2011) found no evidence of significantly increased grade retention prior to the job loss, suggesting a causal link running from the parental employment shock to children's academic difficulties. 88 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2.2.7 Academic Test Anxiety and Academic Resilience Despite these measures to minimize academic test anxiety it is generally agreed that it has become most upsetting and a disruptive factor for students. There are number of researches reporting text anxiety as one of the major cause for students‘ underachievement and low performances at different levels of their educational life (Oludipe, 2009) and has been shown to affect students‘ ability to profit from instruction (Griffith, 2005). Cassady and Johnson (2002) provided evidence that moderate but not low or high levels of physiological arousal were related to higher examination performance. Most studies, however, have failed to support this finding (King, Ollendick, & Prins, 2000; Sarason et al, 2005). In contrast to these mixed findings, the Worry component of academic anxiety has been shown consistently to have an inverse relationship with performance; a relationship that has been observed in children as well as adults, in both genders and in different cultures (King et al., 2000; Cassady & Johnson, 2002; Sarason et al, 2005). Moreover, these studies have reliably shown that worry is manifested as task debilitating cognitions, including more negative self-evaluations and off-task thoughts and fewer positive self-evaluations and on-task thoughts. A study conducted by Dogan and Coban (2010) to explore the effects of academic test anxiety on student achievement of grade 11 students, revealed that anxiety and achievement are related to each other. Williams (2000) conducted a study on a purposively selected sample of 187 undergraduate students to explore the relationship between academic anxiety and academic achievement and found that students with academic achievement have low academic anxiety scores and vice versa. Chapell, Blanding, Takahashi, Silverstein, Newman, Gubi, and McCann (2005) conducted a research study to explore the relationship between academic anxiety and academic achievement. They collected data from a large sample of graduate and undergraduate students and found a significant and negative relationship between academic anxiety and academic achievement. King, Ollendick and Prins (2000) investigated the effects of students‘ academic test anxiety and teacher‘s evaluation practices on students‘ achievement and motivation at post the secondary level. He found statistically significant results which revealed that all students, especially those with high anxiety level, performed poorly and were less motivated to learn. Thus he concluded that when students who are 89 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY particularly test-anxious are exposed to a highly evaluative assessment environment in their educational institution, they perform poorly and are less motivated to perform. In addition, Cassady and Johnson (2002) found that cognitive academic anxiety exerts a significant stable and negative impact on academic achievement measures. Oludipe (2009) found that low test-anxious students performed better than high test-anxious students on both numerical and non-numerical tasks in Physics. Raty and Kakkainen (2011) conducted a study which investigated the teacher‘s expectations, students‘ perceptions of their teachers, and as a result the students‘ perceptions of themselves. The at-risk group was composed of students that were at risk for developing learning, emotional, and behavior disorders. The findings from the study showed that the teachers had low expectations and had negative interactions with the at-risk students. At-risk students had fewer positive interactions with their teacher than the non at-risk students. The at-risk students were more aware of their teacher‘s negative attitude toward them which resulted in the students having lower expectations and negative views of themselves. This negative self perception resulted in the at-risk students having a low academic achievement and experiencing behavior problems in school. The results of this study showed that not only can the bias expectations about at-risk students have an effect on how at-risk students are treated in school, but also have a negative effect on how these students view themselves. In an attempt to explain these seemingly discrepant findings, an alternative deficits model of academic anxiety was proposed by a number of researchers (Becker & Luthar, 2002; Downey, 2008), wherein poor performance of high test-anxious individuals was attributed to lower ability and deficient study habits and not solely to anxiety (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2005). Still other studies have investigated the relationship between academic test anxiety and general psychopathology; specifically, the anxiety disorders. King, et al (2000) using the Interview Schedule for Children (Kovacs, 1985) in a sample of adolescents from Australia. Thus, there seems to be limited but strong evidence indicating that many children who are anxious in testing situations also experience diagnosable anxiety disorders, such that the presence of academic test anxiety in children serves as an indicator of more pervasive psychological distress. The researcher reported that the high test-anxious group endorsed significantly higher levels of psychopathology on various self report measures, perceiving themselves as 90 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY physiologically anxious, prone to worry, and socially sensitive. This empirical finding provide a rich and broad account of academic test anxiety and its relation to more generalized anxiety as well as other forms of psychopathology such as fear and depression. Feldman, Kim and Elliott (2011) examined the effects of testing accommodations on eighth-grade students' performance on large-scale achievement tests and also on their attitudes and reactions to the tests. Findings revealed significant differences in the ways students with and without disabilities experienced testing and how testing accommodations affected students' attitudes toward and beliefs about the tests. Results suggested that (a) students with disabilities had significantly lower test- related self-efficacy than students without disabilities, (b) self-efficacy was positively correlated with test performance for all students, and (c) accommodations improved the test performance of all students and exerted a differential boost for students with disabilities on test-related self-efficacy and motivation. These findings suggest that testing accommodations may have a positive effect on students' test performance by improving test-related self-efficacy and motivation, especially for students with learning disabilities. Kleitman and Gibson (2011) conducted a study whose results suggest that academic self-efficacy and meta-cognitive competency beliefs define a broad factor— Meta-cognitive Beliefs--which serves as a key predictor of self-confidence. Mastery goal-orientation and self-efficacy with teacher predicted Meta-cognitive Beliefs and, indirectly, Self-confidence. Students with stronger Meta-cognitive Beliefs were less engaged in self-handicapping behaviour. Known common factors--intelligence, gender and a proxy for SES, school fees--were controlled for. Putwain and Best (2011) found that pupils reported an increase in academic anxiety related worrisome thoughts and autonomic reactions under the high threat condition, but not in off-task behaviour. Test scores were lower under the high threat condition, but were not attributable to the increases in academic test anxiety related thoughts and autonomic reactions. Also, Pandey and Kapitanoff (2011) investigated the relationships among test performance, anxiety, and the quality of interaction during collaborative testing of college students. It also explored which students are most likely to benefit from collaborative testing. Test performance was positively correlated with quality of interaction. Students with higher levels of academic test 91 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY anxiety were most likely to benefit from collaborative testing and to experience the greatest academic anxiety reduction. Putwain, Woods and Symes (2010) investigated the relationship between academic test anxiety and personal knowledge beliefs (achievement goals and perceived academic competence), parental pressure/support, and teachers' achievement goals. Results revealed that the relationship between academic test anxiety and personal knowledge beliefs differed for the various components of academic anxiety. Also, mastery-avoidance goal was related to worry and tension, and a performance-approach goal to bodily symptoms. Perceived academic competence was related to worry and tension. Parental pressure was associated with stronger worry and test-irrelevant thinking components directly, and with a stronger bodily symptoms component indirectly through a performance-approach goal. Teachers' performance-avoidance goals were related to worry, tension, and bodily symptoms indirectly through personal performance-avoidance goals, and in the case of bodily symptoms additionally through a performance-approach goal. 2.2.8 Peer Influence and Academic Resilience Janosz, LeBlanc, Boulerice and Tremblay (2000) findings stressed the importance of examining the contextual factors that could possibly influence at-risk students to potentially drop out of school. This study concluded that school experience, family experience, peer relationships, leisure activities and beliefs, and deviant behaviors were the variables used to create the typologies which predicted high school dropouts. Also, Finn and Rock (1997) conducted a study in which they compared the academic outcomes of students from similar backgrounds. The results of the study showed that engagement behaviors, such as good school attendance and class participation, were vital components that distinguished whether a student was at- risk or resilient. A study conducted by Ceballo, Dahl, Aretakis, and Ramirez (2001) indicated that children that were exposed to violence in their community had greater psychological distress, such as posttraumatic syndrome and externalizing behaviors. The results also support the need for community interventions to assist with these problems. 92 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Santor et. al., (2000) found that African American students who were committed to school success devised unique strategies to cope with negative peer pressure. One of these was the raceless persona; some students minimized contact with other African Americans and for the most part adopted ―white‖ values. In the same vein, Abulibdeh and Hassan (2011) indicated that student interactions can be predictors of student achievement. 2.2.9 Study Habits and Academic Resilience Rutter (2006) found that children in discordant and disadvantaged homes were more likely to perform better if they attended schools that had good academic records and attentive, caring teachers. Therefore, schools were capable of providing students with positive experiences that were associated with either success or failure. However, positive experiences needed not necessarily to involve academic success but was more likely associated with sporting or musical achievement, getting positions of responsibility in the school, developing a good relationship with a teacher or social success among classmates. Research (Geary, 2006) found that among the most frequently encountered non-family positive role models, favourite teachers who took a personal interest in them, were not just academic instructors but they were also confidants and positive models for personal identification. However, some teachers showed little interest in minority students. Moreover, some teachers had lower expectations for minority and low income students (Geary, 2006). Teachers who expected less often subtly communicated a sense of inadequacy to students, especially if these expectations were different, depending on race. On the other hand, when teachers‘ expectations for students are high, the students rise to the level of such expectations. Academic test anxiety creates problems for many students, and can have a negative impact on the academic achievement of many who suffer from it. Meijer & Oostdam (2011) unraveled the influence of various types of instruction on academic test anxiety levels and, in turn, its influence on intelligence test performance. Their study revealed that state anxiety and academic anxiety do not increase more rapidly as a function of anxiety disposition under stressful conditions compared with reassuring conditions. 93 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Prat-Sala and Redford (2010) examined the interrelationships between motivation orientation (intrinsic and extrinsic), self-efficacy (in reading academic texts and essay writing), and approaches to studying (deep, strategic, and surface). The results showed that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation orientations were correlated with approaches to studying. The results also showed that students classified as high in self-efficacy (reading and writing) were more likely to adopt a deep or strategic approach to studying, while students classified as low in self- efficacy (reading and writing) were more likely to adopt a surface approach. More importantly, changes in students' approaches to studying over time were related to their self-efficacy beliefs, where students with low levels of self-efficacy decreased in their deep approach and increased their surface approach across time. Students with high levels of self-efficacy (both reading and writing) demonstrated no such change in approaches to studying. Kitsantas, Winsler and Hui (2008) found that achievement gaps diminished with the increase in availability of homework resources and the increase in mathematics self-efficacy. Martinez, Kock and Cass (2011) examined predictors of students' writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy. Findings indicated that GPA and gender significantly affected writing anxiety, and leisure writing and writing anxiety were significant predictors of writing self-efficacy. Suggestions for future research and possible interventions for alleviating students' writing anxiety and enhancing their writing self-efficacy and performance are provided. 94 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2.3 Conceptual Frame Work Showing the Relationship between Predictor and Criterion Variables Independent Variables Psychological Factors Dependent Variables Academic Locus of control Academic Test Anxiety Academic Motivational (Internal and External) Academic Sociological Factors Resilience Peer Influence Parental Influence Study Habit As shown in the diagram above, there is a relationship between the predictor and criterion variables. This implies that each of the variables – academic self efficacy, parental influence, gender influence, academic anxiety, peer influence, locus of control, study habit and academic motivation - has a direct relationship with academic resilience. 2.4 Research Questions These research questions were answered in the study: (1) What is the joint effect of the psycho-social variables to the prediction of academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students in South-west Nigeria? (2) What is the relative contribution of the independent variables to the prediction of academic resilience among underachieving students? 95 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2.5 Statement of Hypotheses The following null hypotheses were tested at α = 0.05 level of significance * There is no significant relationship between locus of control and academic resilience among underachieving students. * There is no significant relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic resilience among underachieving students. * There is no significant relationship between intrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience among underachieving students. * There is no significant relationship between extrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience among underachieving students. * There is no significant relationship between parental influence and academic resilience among underachieving students. * There is no significant relationship between academic anxiety and academic resilience among underachieving students. * There is no significant relationship between peer influence and academic resilience among underachieving students. * There is no significant relationship between study habits and academic resilience among underachieving students. 96 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY This chapter discusses the design, population, sample and sampling techniques, instrumentation, procedure and type of data analysis used in this study. 3.1 Research Design The study adopted a descriptive research design of correlational type. This design was appropriated for the study in that variables of interest investigated in the study were not manipulated by the researcher. The study examined the variables of interest as they currently exist in the respondents. 3.2 Population The target population for this study was all Senior Secondary School students two in South-west Nigeria which consists of six states: Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Lagos, Ekiti and Ondo. The students are identifiable and reported academically underachieving in the school. This means that students‘ selection for participation in this research was based on cumulative test and examination scores which fall below the selected schools specified pass mark. The student‘s academic record scores were sourced from the teachers, Guidance Counsellors and principals in the selected schools. The schools used for the study were randomly selected (through simple random technique) from public secondary schools in the six states (Oyo- 324; Lagos- 416; Osun- 330; Ogun- 252; Ekiti- 141; and Ondo- 190). 3.3 Sample and Sampling Technique The multistage sampling technique was used in selecting the participants for this study from secondary schools in South-west, Nigeria. Kerlinger and Lee (2000) described the multistage method of sampling as one that combines stratified random samples of geographical units with cluster samples of cases within the same unit. The sample size used for this study consists of three thousand, two hundred and ninety (3,290) students from the schools in South-West Nigeria. Using multistage sampling technique, the researcher picked two local government areas (LGAs) from each of the six states in South-west Nigeria, totaling 12 LGAs. In the first stage, the six states in 97 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY the South-West Nigeria were first identified as Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo States. At the second stage, the number of local governments in each of the states were identified as follows: (Ekiti 16, Lagos 20, Ogun 20, Ondo 18, Osun 30, Oyo 33), making the number of local governments in all the six zones in the South- West Nigeria to be 137 local governments. In the first stage, out of the 20 local government areas in Lagos State, 15 were picked while 10 were picked in the second stage. Five local governments were also randomly picked in the third stage. The last stage was the picking of 2 local governments from the 5 local governments already hand- picked. Out of the 33 local government areas of Oyo State, 25 were first picked. At the second stage, 12 were picked, while at the third stage 5 local government areas were picked. Out of the 5 local governments 2 were picked at the fourth stage. For Ondo State, out of the 18 local governments, 15 were picked in the first stage while 10 were selected in the second stage. At the third stage 5 local governments were picked out of which 2 were selected in the final stage. Out of the 20 local governments in Ogun State, 15 were picked at the first stage after which 10 were selected in the second stage. The third stage involved the picking of 5 local governments out of which 2 were selected in the final stage. In the first stage of selection in Osun State, 20 were selected out of the 30 local governments. Ten were picked at the second stage, 5 at the third stage while 2 were picked at the final stage. And for Ekiti State, out of the 16 local governments 13 were selected at the first stage and 9 at the second stage. The third stage was the picking of 5 local governments out of which 2 were selected at the final stage. All together 12 local government areas were selected for the study. Similarly, five secondary schools each was randomly selected from the twelve local government areas already selected, totalling sixty schools. Fifty five students (55) were randomly selected from each of the schools bringing the total to 3300 students. But only 3290 (1726 males; 1564 females) students responded properly to the instruments and thus constituted the participants for the study. However, eligibility for participation was based on poor students‘ cumulative academic performance in the school records and from the school counsellor‘s reports. This cumulative score was measured through student‘s academic achievement record in the Junior Secondary School Examination, their cumulative performance in SS1 and examination grades in the present SS2. 98 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Inclusion Criteria  Participants were in-school adolescents in the selected schools.  Participants were willing to participate in the study.  Participants were both male and female adolescents. 3.4 Instrumentation Eight standardized instruments were used for data collection namely: 1. Academic Resilience Scale (ARS) 2. Academic Locus of Control Scale (LOCS) 3. Academic Self-efficacy Scale (ASS) 4. Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) 5. Parental Influence Scale (PIS) 6. Academic anxiety Questionnaire (ATAQ) 7. Peer Influence Scale (PIS) 8. Study Habit Scale (SHS) Each scale has two sections, that is, A and B. the section A consists of demographic information -age, sex, class, school while section B is made up of the subject matters. All the instruments were subjected to pilot testing before using them in this study. Pilot study Before any attempt for data collection, a pilot study of the foreign based instruments was carried out on a sample of 30 students for the purpose of testing reliability, clarity and comprehensiveness of the questionnaires. This is also aimed at making the outcome measures adaptable to the cultural setting of the research. The test-retest technique of determining reliability of an instrument was employed. The researcher administered the test twice to the 30 students outside of the area delimited for the study after a time lapse of two weeks. The two set of scores generated were then correlated using Pearson (r) coefficient formular, to determine the index of relationship in the two set of scores generated from the test-retest. The index of relationship got after the pilot study had been adequately reported under each of the instruments. 99 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Academic Resilience Scale The Academic resilience Scale was adapted from Neil and Dias (2001) The Scale is a 22- item scale that assesses the academic resilience of students. It has various options that students can select from to answer the given sentence on the scale. These options ranges from 1 - strongly disagree to 7 - strongly agree. Examples of items are; Doing menial jobs helps me to pay my school fees, I set realistic goals and make efforts to attain them, Sometimes I fell I cannot make it in life. The original scale has a reliability coefficient of 0.70. Through pilot testing, a reliability of 0.80 was established. Academic Locus of Control Scale The Locus of Control Scale for this study was adapted from Trice (1985) Locus of Control Scale. The original scale has a reliability score of 0.76. Considering the population for the study, the items on the scale were reduced to 18 from the original 28. Participants are expected to pick from a likert scale of 1 – 5 choice response for each statement. 1 refers to strongly disagree, 2 to disagree, 3 – uncertain, 4 – agree, 5 – strongly agree. Examples of items are: School grades most often reflect the effort you put into classes, I came to school because it was expected of me, I have largely determined my own career goals and so on. The reliability coefficient after pilot-testing the modified scale for this study was 0.75. Academic Self-efficacy Scale The Self-in-School Scale by Downs (2005) measures the levels of the students‘ academic self-efficacy. The scale is a 15-item likert with options from ‗1- completely false to 4 – completely true. The items on the scale include ‗I have the ability to do my school work; I am doing a good job in my classes‘. It has a Cronbach alpha of 0.91. The test retest reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.69. Academic Motivation Scale Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Scale Items was adapted from Leeper, Corpus and Iyang (1997) to measure the levels of the students‘ academic motivation. The scale consists of two sections, the first section deals with the items and factor loadings for the intrinsic motivation scale with 17 items which are sub-divided into 100 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY three. They are challenge, curiosity and independent mastery. The second section consist of the items and factor loadings for the extrinsic motivation scale with 14 items which are also divided into sub-group of three; easy work, pleasing teacher and dependence in teacher. The test is placed on five point Likert Scale of strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The original scale has a Cronbach alpha of 0.82 but after pilot-testing the scale for this study a reliability coefficient of 0.85 was obtained. Parental Influence Scale The parental involvement scale by Hicks (2006) was adapted to examine the level of parental influence on students. It has a 10 item on a four Likert scale with options from 1 – strongly disagree to 4 – strongly disagree. Items on the scale include, ‗my parents feel that I can achieve good grades in school; my parents tell me that if I want to be successful in life I must work hard in school‘. It has a Cronbach alpha of .87. The reliability coefficient after pilot-testing the scale for this study was 0.86. Academic Test Anxiety Questionnaire This scale was adapted from the PHCC Academic anxiety Questionnaire which is a ten item scale constructed by Nist and Diehl (1990). It tests students‘ level of academic anxiety. In Academic test anxiety Questionnaire, respondents are expected to indicate how often each statement fits by chosing a number from 1 to 5. Never is 1; Rarely 2; Sometimes 3; Often 4 and Always 5. Example of an item on the scale is ‗___ I have visible signs of nervousness such as sweaty palms, shaky hands‘. Scores will range from 10 to 50. A low score (10-19 points) indicates academic anxiety, a fact, that points to a low case of academic test anxiety. Scores between 20 and 35 indicate an average or mild level of academic test anxiety while scores over 35 suggest an extreme level of academic test anxiety. The reliability coefficient of the adapted questionnaire after pilot-testing for this study was 0.75. Peer Influence Scale This questionnaire was constructed by Adeyemo and Torubeli (2008). It has 18 items with a response format of 1 – not at all like me to 4 – very much like me. Items include ‗most of my friends in my school are doing well in their study‘. It has a test retest reliability index of 0.76. The reliability coefficient of the pilot-tested scale for this study was 0.81. 101 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Study Habit Scale This is a modified version of Umoiyang‘s (1999) study habit scale. The scale measures students study skills in class and in private study. It consists of 10 items with a choice option on a four-likert scale. Example of item is ‗I listen to teachers in the class and write down essential notes‘. Students who qualify as underachievers in this study are those who fall below the average score of the study habit scale The reliability coefficient after pilot-testing the scale for this study was 0.89. 3.5 Method of Data Collection The selected schools were visited by the researcher to intimate the school management on the aim and purpose of research. A letter of introduction was collected from the Head of Department Guidance and Counselling, and taken to the selected schools to seek for permission to carry out the study. The researcher recruited and trained some teachers and counsellors who served as research assistants in assisting the researcher to administer questionnaires and for the facilitation of the programme. The instruments were shared among the participating students after having been fully addressed on how to pick choice answers. The researcher made the respondents to understand that the questionnaires were not formal examination but rather a way of understanding their opinions and views about resilience and academic performance having explained to the participants what was expected of them as respondents, particularly on the need for co-operation. They were assured of confidentiality of all disclosures made in responding to the instruments. The responses collected through the instruments were subjected to data analysis. 3.6 Data Analysis Data were analysed using Pearson‘s Product Moment Correlation Method and the Multiple Regression Analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Friedman‘s non-parametric analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also employed for verification of Research Question One to estimate if the independent variables jointly had a significant contribution to the prediction of academic resilience. As its name suggests, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) focuses on variability, all of which come down to one or another version of the basic measure of variability, the sum of squared deviates. 102 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS This chapter presents the results obtained from the analysis of data. This is done with the aid of fully labeled tables for clearer illustration. The explanation of the contents of each table is presented after it. The summary of the findings of the study is also presented in the chapter. General Description of Data A total number of three thousand two hundred and ninety (3290) students were used for the study. Descriptive statistics of the distribution of subjects along gender and age are presented in tables 4.1 and 4.2 respectively. Table 4.1: Distribution of the respondents by Gender Gender Frequency Percentage Male 1723 52.4 Female 1567 47.6 Total 3290 100.0 Table above shows that 1723 (52.4%) of the respondents are males while 1567(47.6%) are females. Table 4.2: Distribution of the respondents by Age Age Frequency Percentage < 14 years 998 30.3 15-18years 2175 66.1 > 18 years 117 3.6 Total 3290 100.00 Table above shows that 998 (30.3%) of the respondents are less than or equal to 14 years, 2175 (66.1%) are aged 15-18 years while 117 (3.6%) are over 18years. 103 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Table 4.3: Correlation matrix showing the relationships among independent variables (Motivation, Locus of Control, Peer Influence, Study Habits, Self-efficacy, Parental Influence and Academic Anxiety) on Academic Resilience among underachieving Students Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Locus of 1.000 Control Academic -.028 1.000 Self-efficacy Intrinsic .002 .700** 1.000 motivation Extrinsic .006 .445** .568** 1.000 motivation Parental influen-.c0e3 1 .291** .307** .158** 1.000 Peer influence .024 .292** .316** .348** .431** 1.000 Academic -.010 .044** .046* .209** -.025 .113** 1.000 Testt anxiety Study habit .103** .119** .135** .142** -.013 .172** .280** 1.000 Academic R - . 0 3 9** .454** .400** .219** .227** .246** .080** .031 1.000 resilience Mean 16.10 51.36 46.93 22.85 15.69 29.88 15.96 8.79 71.88 Std. Dev. 2.04 10.85 11.24 6.13 3.16 5.28 5.70 2.52 13.50 ** Sig. at P < .01 level, * Sig. at P < .05 level The results on Table 4.3 show the means, standard deviations and inter- correlation matrix of the independent variables (Motivation, Locus of Control, Peer Influence, Study Habits, Self-efficacy, Parental Influence and Academic Anxiety) and dependent variable (Academic Resilience) among underachieving secondary school students. The results show positive significant relationships between Academic Resilience and Self-efficacy (r = .454; p<0.05), Intrinsic Motivation (r = .400; p<0.05), Extrinsic motivation (r = .219; p<0.05), Parental influence (r = .227; p<0 .05) and Peer influence (r = .246; p<0.05) but a negative significant relationship between Academic Resilience and Locus of Control (r = -.039; p<0.05) and no significant relationship between Academic Resilience and Academic test anxiety (r = .080; p >0.05) and Study habit (r = .031; p>0.05) respectively. Academic Resilience has positive significant relationship with Academic Self-efficacy, Intrinsic motivation, Extrinsic motivation, Parental Influence, Peer Influence, Academic Test anxiety, and 104 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY has a negative significant relationship with Locus of control. Also, academic Resilience has no significant relationship with Study Habit. Research Question One: What is the joint effect of the psycho-social variables to the prediction of academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students in South- west Nigeria? Table 4.4: Composite Effect of Psychosocial variables on Academic Resilience R = 0.489 R Square = 0.239 Adjusted R Square = 0.237 Standard Error of Estimate = 12.6245 ANOVA Model Sum of Sq. Df Mean Square F Significance Regression 164454.21 8 20556.776 130.924 .000 Residual 522918.11 3281 159.378 Total 687372.32 3289 Table 4.4 shows the multiple Regression (R) indicating the relationship between the predicting variables (intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, locus of control, peer influence, study habits, academic self-efficacy, parental influence and academic test anxiety) and the dependent variable (academic resilience) is 0.489, the R Square is 0.239, Adjusted R Square is 0.237 and Standard Error of Estimate is 12.6245. This implies that the predictors accounted for 23.9% of the variance in academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students in South-Western Nigeria. Further verification using regression analysis of variance (ANOVA) produced F (8, 3281) = 130.924; p<0.05). This indicates that the independent variables jointly have a significant contribution to the prediction of academic resilience. 105 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Research Question Two: What are the relative contributions of the psycho-social factor to the prediction of academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students in South-Western Nigeria? Table 4.5: The Relative Contribution of the Psycho-social Variables to the Prediction of Academic Resilience of Underachieving Students in South-West Nigeria Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized T Sig coefficients B Std. Error Beta Constants 41.107 2.075 19.808 .000 Locus of Control 3.623 .094 .006 .386 .699 Academic Self-efficacy .377 .028 .340 13.466 .000 Intrinsic Motivation .230 .031 .200 7.379 .000 Extrinsic Motivation -.124 .044 -.056 -2.803 .005 Parental Influence .208 .060 .064 3.485 .008 Peer Influence -5.757 .044 -.025 -1.305 .192 Academic Test Anxiety 2.805 .040 .011 .699 .485 Study Habit -1.570 .080 -.003 -.196 .845 Table 4.5 shows the result obtained from answering research question two. Base on these figures, it is shown that academic self-efficacy made the highest significant relative contribution to the prediction of academic resilience (β = 0.340; t = 13.466; p < 0.05); follows by intrinsic academic motivation (β =0.200; t = 7.379; p < 0.05), parental-influence (β = 0.64; t = 3.485; p < 0.05), and lastly by extrinsic academic motivation (β = -0.056; t = -2.803; p < 0.05), Locus of control has no significant relative contribution to the prediction of academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students in South-west Nigeria (β = 0.006, t = .386, p > 0.05), Academic Test Anxiety (β = 0.011, t = .699, p > 0.05), Study Habit (β = -0.003, t = - .196, p > 0.05) and Peer Influence (β = -0.025, t = -1.305, p > 0.05). 106 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Table 4.6: Correlation matrix showing the relationships among independent variables (Motivation, Locus of Control, Peer Influence, Study Habits, Self-efficacy, Parental Influence and Academic Anxiety) on Academic Resilience among underachieving Students Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Locus of 1.000 Control Academic -.028 1.000 Self-efficacy Intrinsic .002 .700** 1.000 motivation Extrinsic .006 .445** .568** 1.000 motivation Parental influen-.c0e3 1 .291** .307** .158** 1.000 Peer influence .024 .292** .316** .348** .431** 1.000 Academic -.010 .044** .046* .209** -.025 .113** 1.000 Testt anxiety Study habit .103** .119** .135** .142** -.013 .172** .280** 1.000 Academic R - . 0 3 9** .454** .400** .219** .227** .246** .080** .031 1.000 resilience Mean 16.10 51.36 46.93 22.85 15.69 29.88 15.96 8.79 71.88 Std. Dev. 2.04 10.85 11.24 6.13 3.16 5.28 5.70 2.52 13.50 ** Sig. at P < .01 level, * Sig. at P < .05 level Hypothesis One- There is no significant relationship between locus of control and academic resilience among under-achieving secondary school students. Table 4.3 shows that no significant relationship found between locus of control and academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students (r = - 0.039; p>0.05). Therefore the hypothesis was accepted. Hypothesis Two- There is no significant relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic resilience among under-achieving secondary school students. Table 4.3 reveals a significant positive correlation found between academic self- efficacy and academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students (r = .473; p<0.05). Therefore the hypothesis is rejected. 107 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Hypothesis Three- There is no significant relationship between intrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience among under-achieving secondary school students. Table 4.3 shows a significant positive correlation found between intrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students (r = .400; p<0.05). Therefore the hypothesis was rejected. Hypothesis Four-There is no significant relationship between extrinsic academic msotivation and academic resilience among under-achieving secondary school students. Table 4.3 indicates a significant positive correlation found between extrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students (r = .219; p<0.05). Therefore the hypothesis was rejected. Hypothesis Five- There is no significant relationship between parental influence and academic resilience among under-achieving secondary school students. Table 4.3 shows a significant positive correlation found between parental influence and academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students is (r = ..227; p<0.05). Therefore the hypothesis was rejected. Hypothesis Six- There is no significant relationship between peer influence and academic resilience among under-achieving secondary school students. Table 4.3 reveals a significant positive correlation found between peer influence and academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students is (r = .246; p<0.05). Therefore the hypothesis was rejected. Hypothesis Seven- There is no significant relationship between academic test anxiety and academic resilience among under-achieving secondary school students. Table 4.3 indicates that no significant relationship found between academic test anxiety and academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students (r = ..080; p >0.05). Therefore the hypothesis was accepted. Hypothesis Eight- There is no significant relationship between study habit and academic resilience among under-achieving secondary school students. 108 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Table 4.3 reveals that no significant relationship found between study habit and academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students (r=.031; p>0.05). Therefore the hypothesis was accepted. Summary of Results The independent variables jointly have a significant contribution to the prediction of academic resilience of under-achieving secondary school students in South-West Nigeria. Results for the research questions revealed that the independent variables except study habit correlated significantly with academic resilience of under- achieving secondary school students in South-West Nigeria. Also, all the independent variables had relative contribution to the academic resilience of secondary school underachieving students. In addition, the independent variables have significant joint contribution to the prediction of academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students in South-Western Nigeria (F = 130.924; df = 8/3281; p < 0.05). However, four psycho-social variables (academic self-efficacy, intrinsic academic motivation, extrinsic academic motivation and parental influence) had significant relative contribution to the prediction of academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students in South-West Nigeria while four psycho- social variables (locus of control, peer influence, academic test anxiety and study habit) were not. The findings also showed that there was no significant relationship between locus of control and academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students. On the other hand, there was a significant relationship between academic self- efficacy and academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students. In addition, there was significant relationship between intrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students. There was a significant relationship between extrinsic motivation and academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students. In the same vein, there was a significant relationship between parental influence and academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students. There was no significant relationship between peer influence and academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students. 109 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Also, there was no significant relationship between academic anxiety and academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students. Finally, there was no significant relationship between study habit and academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students. 110 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION In this chapter, the findings of the hypotheses tested are discussed in a sequential order of presentation. The implications and justifications of the findings on the academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students are also discussed in line with the outcome of each hypothesis. The chapter ends with suggestions raised for counsellors, educators and educational stakeholders, parents and the entire society at large. 5.1 Discussion of Findings Research Question 1: The result of the research question 1 shows that seven out of the eight independent variables correlated significantly with academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools except the study habit which is not significantly correlated. Some past studies equally established that there was significant correlation between parental influence, motivation, academic self-efficacy, and academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools (Carter & Wojtkiewicz, 2000). Nevertheless, it has been equally well- documented in the literature that there was no significant relationship between study habit and academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools (Barrs & Pidgeon, 2002; Baers, Baldi, Ayotte & Green, 2007). The result of this study also shows that academic anxiety and peer influence did not correlate significantly with academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. This finding is in line with that of Adeyemo (2007). It also shows that majority of the respondents with high academic self-efficacy are prone to academic resilience among underachieving students in senior secondary schools. The results of this study therefore indicate that the academic self-efficacy, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are more potent to academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools than study habit and the remaining independent variables. In a study conducted (Correll, 2001) parental and peer-influence were better off. Several factors could be responsible for the difference, including organisation of the examination and societal morality. More so, the finding shows that academic self-efficacy significantly correlate with academic resilience of 111 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY underachieving students in senior secondary schools. This finding is in line with Abe (1995); Corkett & Benevides (2011); and Diseth (2011). The result of research question 1 further shows that the independent variables (locus of control, academic self-efficacy, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, parental and peer-influence, academic anxiety and study habit) jointly have a significant contribution to the prediction of academic resilience of underachieving secondary school students. This means that 24.2% of the variance in academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools is accounted for by the locus of control, academic self-efficacy, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, parental and peer- influence, academic anxiety and study habit factors. Though the value is small, the F- value 130.924 which was significant at P < 0.05 and shows that the effect is still significant. Adeyemo and Adetona (2007) posit that differences in students‘ academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools are as a result of learners‘ variables like family size, material, education, poverty and home environment. Asonibare and Olayemi (1997); Becker and Luthar (2002) and Deater- Deckard, Ivy and Smith (2006) also support the result by noting that socio-personal variables affect learning outcome. The result explains the need to look beyond one variable as accounting for academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. If academic self-efficacy or parental-influence is identified as responsible for academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools, other variables like peer influence-influence, academic anxiety or study habit may influence academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools indirectly. Research Question 2: The result on research question 2 shows the relative contribution of each of these independent variables to academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. In the study, academic self-efficacy appears as the most potent contributor to academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. This means that academic self-efficacy of underachieving students in senior secondary schools is more important than any other factor in predicting their academic resilience; intrinsic motivation, peer-influence, academic test anxiety in that 112 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY order. This finding is in line with Bandura‘s (1999) conclusion that self-efficacy has impact on everything from psychological states of behaviour to motivation and is the foundation for human motivation, well-being, and personal accomplishment. He also supports Diseth (2011) opinion that self-efficacy perception help determine what individuals do with the knowledge and skills they have. Other researchers who have supported this argument are Boyd & Eckert (2002); Bernard (2004) and Regier (2007). In Alfassi, 2003; Grantham, 2004 self-esteem, self-efficacy and cognitive skills are important to a student‘s ability to overcome stressful academic situations and positively improve in their academic achievement. Intrinsic motivation is next to academic self-efficacy in predicting academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. This finding is in line with Adeyemo (2007) who examines the extent to which academic self-efficacy will determine the academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. They observe that academic self-efficacy is statistically significant in predicting academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. Also, this study supports Abe (1995) who notes that, it is possible to perceive the totality of a man‘s being guided and ruled by psychological variables in which self-efficacy is one. Also, this finding is in line with Onocha (1985) who conceptualizes that the modern man as a person has his/her educational aspiration and accomplishment projected by the social and psychological variables in the environment. This is in agreement with Reis and McCoach (2000) submission that motivation is a significant factor in academic resilience as a lack of motivation among students would facilitate underachievement. Moreover, King, Ollendick and Prins (2000) opine that students with positive connection to schools are academically motivated and less likely to engage in inappropriate behavior. Whitmore (2000) observes that many underachieving students need motivation from their teachers because they have learning styles incompatible with prevailing instructional methods. Peer-influence is the next potent factor that predicts academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. This shows that peer-influence is significant to academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. This finding corroborates Dishion, Nelson, Winter and Bullock (2004); Cohen and Prinstein (2006), who observe that students with fewer friends have better academic resilience progress than those with many friends indicating that higher peer 113 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY influence is an indicator of lower academic resilience. Also, this finding is contrary to the finding of Dishion, Piehler & Meyers (2008) that students with more friends are prone to academic resilience equally well or sometimes better than students with few friends. This finding corroborate Peng and Lee, (2006); Kirk (2006) and Guay, Ratelle, Roy and Litalien, (2010) who all agreed that peer influence exert a significant influence on academic achievement positively and negatively. In addition, Santor, Messervey and Kusumakar (2000) and Paige (2001) further suggested that peer affiliation and influence can reinforce inappropriate behaviors in students and affect their psychological well being. Academic test anxiety is next to peer-influence, it is one of the predictive factors of academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. This finding is in line with France et al., (2010) who notes that academic anxiety has low correlation with academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. He concludes that academic test anxiety correlates poorly with academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools due to malpractices. Other studies that have supported this view are Chapell, Blanding, Takahashi, Silverstein, Newman, Gubi, and McCann (2005) that revealed that academic anxiety has negative correlation with academic achievement and Cassady and Johnson (2002) and Jing (2007) who found that academic anxiety is negatively correlated with academic achievement. Moreover, Mojoyinola (2001) beliefs that academic anxiety evokes fearful responses such that academic resilience is disturbed and hindered and she equally identified expiration, panic, tenseness, nervousness and others as traits exhibited by high test anxious students. Parental-influence is next to academic anxiety; it is one of the predictive factors of academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. This factor is significant in the sense that the roles of the parents in the life of their child or ward in all the endeavours cannot be over emphasized. This finding agrees to Amato and Fowler (2002) who found that positive or negative early educational experiences provided by parents can impact the academic future of their child. Also, this study backs up Gutman, Sameroff and Eccles (2002) statement that consistent discipline and high parental involvement have positive effects on a child‘s academic achievement. Active involvement in acts of required helpfulness (Werner, 2006) fosters resilience. This means that a lot of underachievers with the right level of 114 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY resilience would have improved academically if they had found parental support, assistance and understanding. Unfortunately, most parents in Nigeria are faced with the problem of surviving and keeping their children alive owing to the poor socio- economic state of most homes, so little or no attention is given to the children concerning academic issues or its associated challenges. Extrinsic motivating factor is equally important in predicting the academic resilience of underachieving students in South-west Nigeria. If the students are well motivated there is tendency for such learners to perform creditably well. Thus, motivation either in the school, home, among peers or in the community is a determinant of the associated value a student will have for academic achievement. In this case, it is important that the school experience of students must be improved by creating a home, school and classroom environment and society that promotes academic resilience and achievement (Rossi & Stringfield, 1995; Pietsch & Williamson, 2010). Also, the way a student perceives the value of education and the associated gain that may later accrue from it is a great motivational factor for academic resilience. This is equally revealed in studies that claim that teacher‘s expectations which are external factor have a major impact on students‘ academic motivation (Lumsden, 1997; Tauber, 1998). Moreover, Lumsden (1997) and Patall, et, al., (2010) and perceive extrinsic academic motivation in this instance, educators‘ expectations, as being either a bridge or a barrier to students‘ academic motivation. Also, Radel, et, al., (2010) explained that the root of academic and behavioural problems stems from the mismatch between the students‘ needs, teaching method used by the instructor, and the requirements of the curriculum which weakens academic motivation. Study habit is equally not significant to academic resilience of the underachieving secondary school students in south west, Nigeria. This finding is contrary to the findings of Uwakwe, Oke and Aire (2000) who discovered that students fail not because they are not brilliant but because they have poor study habits or plan. This does not correlate with Prat-Sala and Redford (2010) findings that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation orientations correlated with approaches to studying. The results also show that students classified as high in self-efficacy (reading and writing) are more likely to adopt a deep or strategic approach to studying, while 115 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY students classified as low in self-efficacy (reading and writing) were more likely to adopt a surface approach. The result reveals that locus of control is not significant in predicting academic resilience of underachieving students in senior secondary schools. This implies that locus of control has no significant effect on how a person will perform. This finding is contrary to the work of researchers like Gale, Batty and Deary (2008) and Huebner, Ash and Laughlin (2001) who find locus of control as a determining factor in doing well on a particular task. This may be due to the environment, teaching styles, instructional aids available, school environment, home background as found by researchers like Kim-Cohen, Moffitt, Caspi and Taylor (2004); Onocha (1985) and Owens and Shaw (2003) who cited these as other factors that may enhance the achievement of students in a learning environment. This finding has common view with also corroborates MacDonald (2009) who claims that academic locus of control is an attitudinal and motivational variable that determines academic achievement and Rotter (1966); Miller et al, (2003) that locus of control in academic resilience is significant. However, it is in line with Lynch et al., (2002) view that human behavior is determined by the perceived likelihood of an event or outcome to occur contingent upon the behaviour in question, and the value placed on that event or outcome. 116 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Hypothesis 1: There is no significant relationship between locus of control and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. Findings of results in the analysis of this study supports hypothesis one as it revealed that there is no significant relationship between academic resilience and locus of control of underachieving students. What this portends is that personal and external perceptions have little influence in determining academic resilience among underachieving students in Nigeria. Academic resilience is a situation of striving to overcome perceived challenges against all odds and this means that a student who allows personal and external perception to dictate his/her level of academic performance may fail to develop the necessary academic resilience in Nigeria. This is because the level of financial challenges faced in individual homes and the educational sector, coupled with the prevalent rate of joblessness among young Nigerian graduates is enough overwhelming force to hinder academic achievement. Thus the inherent ability to move beyond one‘s level of locus of control is significant for a student to have the needed academic resilience to succeed in school. This result therefore negates the claims of MacDonald (2005) that academic locus of control is an attitudinal and motivational variable that determines academic achievement and Rotter (1966); Miller, Fitch, and Marshall, (2003) that locus of control in academic resilience is significant. However, it is in line with Lynch, Hurford and Cole (2002) view that human behavior is determined by the perceived likelihood of an event or outcome to occur contingent upon the behavior in question, and the value placed on that event or outcome. Hypothesis 2: There is no significant relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. This hypothesis was rejected as there was significant relationship between academic resilience and academic self-efficacy of underachieving students in South- West Nigeria. Just as it has been pointed out earlier, the Nigeria economy and especially its educational sector is faced with the challenges of inadequate school infrastructures, professional teachers, teaching and learning aids to facilitate quality teaching and learning. Aside this, most students come from homes relying more on government support in order for their children and wards to be in school and enjoy educational benefits. This expectation has created a huge imbalance and led to 117 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY underachievement among some students, as what is available for teaching and learning cannot adequately sustain and enhance academic achievement among the students. Despite this, there are some students who have learnt to cope with all these societal, financial and educational challenges and strive for success academically. These ones have been able to achieve this because they believe in themselves and the likely capability they possess to be successful academically. Thus, the result of this study has proven that there is a significant relationship between academic self- efficacy and academic resilience. This argument is in line with Bandura (1999) supposition that self-efficacy has impact on individuals from psychological states to behaviour to motivation and is the foundation for human motivation, well-being, and personal accomplishment. In addition, it supports Diseth (2011) opinion that self-efficacy perception help determine what individuals do with the knowledge and skills they have. Other researchers who have supported this argument are Bernard (2004); Regier (2007) and Trent and Slade (2008). In addition, Alfassi, 2003; Grantham, 2004 have stated that self-esteem, self-efficacy and cognitive skills are important to a student‘s ability to overcome stressful academic situations and positively influence their academic achievement. Hypothesis 3: There is no significant relationship between instrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. The result shows that this hypothesis is not acceptable was rejected as there was a significant relationship between instrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. A fundamental fact is that the kind of personal attachment and interest a student has towards academic and educational pursuit is a motivating factor which makes him/her develop the needed academic resilience or remain an academic underachiever. This is in line with Reis and McCoach (2000) submission that motivation is a significant factor in academic resilience as a lack of motivation among students would facilitate underachievement. Moreover, King, Ollendick and Prins (2000) were of the opinion that students with positive connection to schools are academically motivated and less likely to engage in inappropriate behavior. Whitmore (2000) observed that many underachieving students 118 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY need motivation from their teachers because they have learning styles incompatible with prevailing instructional methods. All these views have therefore supported the result of this research and has revealed that it is important for students to feel that their parents, teachers and the school administrators have a vested and genuine interest in them to excel academically. In addition, they must perceive the school as a place willing to render supportive and meaningful assistance to them in their educational pursuit and in achieving their future career goals. What this portends is that open communication and a shared vision help to build a sense of trust among the students and educators thereby enhancing teaching and learning and academic achievement rates (Wehlage, 2001; Dogan & Corban, 2010; Pietsch & Williamson, 2010; Carr & Walton, 2011; Ersoy & Ozden, 2011; Pianta, et al., 2012). Hypothesis 4: There is no significant relationship between extrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. This hypothesis was rejected as there was significant relationship between extrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-Western Nigeria. The way a student perceive the value of education and the associated gain that may later accrue to it is a great motivational factor for academic resilience. This is equally revealed in studies that claim that teacher expectations which are an external factor have a major impact on students‘ academic motivation (Lumsden, 1997; Tauber, 1998; Radel, et al., 2010; Carr & Walton, 2011). Moreover, Lumsden (1997) and Tauber (1998) perceive extrinsic academic motivation in this instance, educators‘ expectations, as being either a bridge or a barrier for students‘ academic motivation. Also, Radel, et al., (2010) explained that the root of academic and behavior problems stems from the mismatch between the students‘ needs, teaching method used by the instructor, and the requirements of the curriculum which kills academic motivation. Thus, motivation either in the school, home, among peers or in the community is a determinant of the associated value a student will have for academic achievement. It is therefore important that the school experience of students must be improved by creating a home, school and classroom environment and society that promotes 119 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY academic resilience and achievement (Pietsch & Williamson, 2010; Ersoy & Ozden, 2011; Stumblingbear-Riddle & Romans, 2012). Hypothesis 5: There is no significant relationship between parental influence and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. There was significant relationship found in this study between academic resilience and parental influence of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. The result of this hypothesis shows strong agreement to the age long assumption that the home and especially parental influence is a significant factor in a child‘s life. It could either determine the success or failure of a child academically and in other area of his/her life. Thus, this research supports Amato and Fowler (2002) arguments that positive or negative early educational experiences provided by parents can impact the academic future of their child. To buttress up this claims, Gutman et al, (2002) stated that consistent discipline and high parental involvement have positive effects on a child‘s academic achievement. Active involvement in acts of required helpfulness (Werner, 2006) fosters resilience. This means that a lot of underachievers with the right level of resilience would have improved academically if they had found parental support, assistance and understanding. Unfortunately, most parents in Nigeria are faced with the problem of surviving and keeping their children alive owing to the poor socio-economic state of most homes so little or no attention is given to the children concerning academic issues or its associated challenges. Hypothesis 6: There is no significant relationship between peer influence and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. There was significant relationship between academic resilience and peer influence of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. Since peer groups are a key part of the developmental process, they can have a negative effect on students through peer pressure and conformity. A lot of times, students who could have been high achievers academically are misdirected by classmates and peers leading to their academic underachievement. Adolescent relationship with peers affected their beliefs about the values of school, their own academic competence, their motivation and subsequent academic achievement (Dishion, & Dodge, 2006). For example, Dishion 120 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY and Lansford (2006) found that peers do influence achievement motivation, particularly when they have a close, positive relationship. Peers exerted more influence on daily behaviours. Nonetheless, students who received both parental and peer academic support were more likely to have academic success (Steinberg et al., 1992). Among adolescents and youth peer groups, academic resilience is not considered a favourable trait rather resilience in other social vices are seen as significant. To this end, where teaching and learning is not done in a conducive environment with all the necessary aids in place, it becomes easier for students owing to peer influence to associate their academic failure to such inadequacies. The need to embrace the right academic resiliency spirit to cope with the challenge is not seen as something they should do. This argument is supported by Peng and Lee, (2006); Kirk (2006) and Guay, Ratelle, Roy and Litalien, (2010) who all agreed that peer influence exert a significant influence on academic achievement positively and negatively. In addition, Paige (2001); Santor, Messervey and Kusumakar (2000) and Frank, et al., (2010) further suggested that peer affiliation and influence can reinforce inappropriate behaviors in students and affect their psychological well being. Hypothesis 7: There is no significant relationship between academic anxiety and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. There was significant relationship between academic anxiety and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. Going by the foregoing result, academic anxiety is a significant determinant of academic resilience. This is because a lot of students result is in line with the study conducted by Ergene (2011) to explore the effects of academic anxiety on students‘ achievement of grade eleven students that revealed that anxiety and related to each other. Oludipe (2009) conducted a study on a purposively selected sample of 187 undergraduates to explore the relationship between academic anxiety and academic achievement and found that students with academic achievement and vice versa. It shows that a certain percentage of academic anxiety is needed by students to succeed academically. This is because a student who is unable to manage his/her level of academic anxiety has a low self- efficacy thereby allowing the anxiety to interfere with retrieval of previously learned information and produce task-irrelevant responses (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1990; Burr, 1997; 121 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY Aremu & Oluwole, 2001; Sarason et al, 2005; Oresanya 2007). Such task irrelevant responses can include dread, scare, alarm, fright, trepidation, horror or panic (Lewis, 1999). This result negates the studies of Chapell, Blanding, Takahashi, Silverstein, Newman, Gubi, and McCann (2005) that revealed that academic anxiety has negative correlation with academic achievement and Cassady and Johnson (2002) and Jing (2007) who found that academic anxiety is negatively correlated with academic achievement. Moreover, Mojoyinola (2001) beliefs that academic anxiety evokes fearful responses such that academic resilience is disturbed and hindered and she equally identified expiration, panic, tenseness, nervousness and others as traits exhibited by high test anxious students. Hypothesis 8: There is no significant relationship between study habit and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. There was no significant relationship between study habit and academic resilience of underachieving students in South-West Nigeria. What this portends is that there are lots of students who do not have a clue as to what can be regarded as appropriate techniques essential for effective studying. Notwithstanding this shortcoming, they persistently try to make sure their academic performance improves. They are consistently in the classroom during teaching and make sure assignments are done and submitted as at when due. To this end, this result negates Uwakwe, Oke and Aire (2000) submission that students fail not because they are not brilliant but because they have poor study habits and plan. In addition, it does not correlate with Prat-Sala and Redford (2010) findings that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation orientations were correlated with approaches to studying. The results also show that students classified as high in self-efficacy (reading and writing) are more likely to adopt a deep or strategic approach to studying, while students classified as low in self-efficacy (reading and writing) are more likely to adopt a surface approach. The result of this study has thus revealed that academically resilient students engage in other positive behavior to improve their level of academic achievement aside from engaging in good study habits. 122 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 5.2 Conclusion This study investigates psycho-social variables as correlates of academic resilience among underachieving secondary school students in South-west Nigeria. From the results of the study, it was revealed that all the psychosocial variables have significant joint contribution to the predictiion of academic resilience of underachieving students. However, all the psychosocial variables have significant relative contribution to the prediction of academic resilience of underachieving students except locus of control. In a separate analysis of the psychosocial variables, there was no significant relationship between academic resilience and locus of control of underachieving students. On the other hand, there was a significant relationship between academic resilience and academic self-efficacy of underachieving students. In addition, there was significant relationship between instrinsic academic motivation, extrinsic academic motivation and academic resilience of underachieving students. In the same vein, there was a significant relationship between academic resilience and parental influence of underachieving students as well as academic resilience and peer influence of underachieving students. However, there was no significant relationship between academic anxiety and academic resilience of underachieving students and that of study habit and academic resilience of underachieving students. Thus, this study has shown that psycho-social variables are important correlates of academic resilience among underachieving secondary school students in South-west Nigeria. It has been able to establish the role of internal and external factors as determinants of academic resilience among students. 5.3 Implications of findings This findings revealed that the role of internal and external factors as determinants of academic resilience among underachieving students. This understanding will assist in the adjustment process enhance teachers‘ motivation to teach, increase students‘ self-efficacy and determination to be academically resilient in order to improve their level of academic achievement in the school. It has provided teachers and educational stakeholders a clue to in understanding psychosocial variables that influence academic resilience. With access to this kind of research, schools are in a better position to assist students in teaching 123 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY and learning by effectively managing the teaching and learning aids in their possession, and encourage and motivate students to strife for academic success. Moreover, it gives educational pre-planning committee opportunity to understand the state of the Nigerian educational sector and its accruing effect on the life of the future leader. This is essential since it will make them further understand why there is need to budget appropriately and effectively for the educational sector in order to meet the educational needs of the Nigerian student and put the teachers in a better condition for effective teaching and learning. The study has further shown the home and societal challenges that students are faced with and thus made it paramount that parents should not put their children through unnecessary stress as a result of their opinions concerning academic achievement or financial state. Once students do not face unnecessary challenges and stress at home, they will be motivated to develop the right academic resilience to improve their academic performance in the school. 5.4 Limitations of the study In the process of this research, some limitations were observed: Firstly, limited number of students met the criteria for eligibility as participants. This is because the respondents for this study where those whose score line where 30% and below in the school academic record. The study has shown that it may be essential to consider more mediating variables apart from the ones that have been observed in this study. Likewise, proximity and the wide geographical range of the study did not allow for total coverage of schools. This means that the schools used in this study were a sample representation of the main population. 5.5 Recommendations Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made: 1. Parents should provide an accommodating situation for students to be motivated to learn, value academic achievement and education in general. To this end, parents should be more supportive towards their children educational pursuit and make them understand that they would always be available to assist them in resolving their educational challenges. 124 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 2. There is need for teachers and educators to understand the uniqueness inherent in every individual. This would assist them from making the mistakes of universal judgement about students‘ performance, capability, ability and financial commitment. 3. Also, the government at the Federal, State and Local level should design and implement programmes that would motivate student to desire an improved academic achievement. In the same vein they should provide and meet educational needs in order for the country to sustain a qualitative educational system. Non-professional should not be allowed to implement and decide on educational policy but rather round pegs should be kept in the round holes. 4. Students should equally understand that it is needful to develop the right academic resilience to combat various challenges that may come their way if they want to succeed academically. 5.6 Contributions to the body of knowledge This study investigated the influence of some psycho-social variables (motivation, locus of control, peer influence, study habits, self-efficacy, parental influence and academic anxiety) predicting academic resilience. From the findings of the study, models which are tenable in explaining the predictive effects of the psycho- social variables on resilience had evolved. The study has revealed the importance of using psycho-social factors in enhancing academic resilience and reducing underachievement among senior secondary school students. Thus, it will serve as a good reference point for teachers, parents, school counsellors and other stakeholders in secondary education in Nigeria. The study has contributed in the expansion of the scope of literature, filling the existing gap and thereby adds to the available storehouse of researches on academic resilience and underachievement among students. This study has shown that psychosocial variables have a great implication for academic resilience among underachievers. 125 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 5.7 Suggestions for further studies This research work cannot be generalized as limited participants were used in the research and all within a particular zone in Nigeria. . Also, there is a need to consider other moderating variables that this research may not have delved into but are equally important and can serve as risk factors that could influence academic underachievement. 126 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY REFERENCES Abe, J. 1995. 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Society for Research in Child Development 8:1 – 19. 145 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY APPENDICES DEPARTMENT OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING FACULTY OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN Introduction to Respondents This scale has been designed to assess the level of your Locus of Control Scale, Academic Self-efficacy, Academic Motivation Scale, Parental Influence Scale, PHCC Academic anxiety Questionnaire, Peer Influence Scale and Study Habit Scale to influence academic resilience. The purpose of the administration of the scale is for research work and will be treated as confidential. The scale is not a test and there is no right or wrong answer. You are therefore urged to be as truthful as possible about your choice of answer. Your cooperation will be highly appreciated. Thank you! Instruction: Please read carefully and supply the information required below. Tick the appropriate box with the mark (/). Gender: male female Age: _____ Class: ________ School status: co-educational school _____ single sex school _____ PART 1 The Academic Resilience Scale Please read the following statements. To the right you will see some options, Strongly Disagree- 1, Disagree- 2, Uncertain- 3, Agree- 4 and Strongly Agree- 5. Circle the number which indicates how you feel about the statement. 1 2 3 4 5 1. Doing menial jobs helps me to pay my school fees. 2 Determination to succeed makes me overcome every challenge I face in school. 3. Academic challenges are part of life success. 4. I set realistic goal and make efforts to attain them. 5. Sometimes I feel I cannot make it in life. 146 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY 6. Despite my parent‘s poor financial status, I can still make it to the top of my career. 7. Though I am physically challenged, my disability is making me to move on with more zeal. 8. My belief in myself has helped me in life. 9. I care less of what people say about me. 10. Success of other students has motivated me to succeed. 11. Blaming my academic failure on my family background is a sign of weakness. 12. I can work well in stressful conditions. 13. I feel proud that I have accomplished things in life. 14. When the going gets tough, I still press hard to attain my set goal academically. 15. Perseverance is a tool to academic excellence, I won‘t give up. 16. Academic success is mere luck and chance. 17. Diligence and hard work makes one successful when it comes to academic issues, friends are not my models. 18. Failure does not deter me from making progress in my academics. 19. Sometimes I go to school without food. 20. My disabled condition is affecting my academic interest and pursuit. 21. Even though I am financially drained and that my parents are poor, I am not overwhelmed by this. 22. Life itself is a challenge, so no matter what, I keep on striving. 147 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY PART 2 Locus of Control Scale Please read the following statement and then indicate the extent to which you agree with each item by circling the number that corresponds with your response. A is Agree and D is Disagree. * ________School grades most often reflect the effort you put into classes * ________I came to school because it was expected of me * ________I have largely determined my own career goals * ________Some people have a knack for writing, while others will never write well no matter how hard they try * ________At least once, I have taken a subject because it was easy to get good grade * ________Teachers sometimes form an early impression of you and then, no matter what you do, you cannot change that impression * ________There are some subjects in which I could never do well * ________Some students, for instance prefects, get free rides in school classes * ________I sometimes feel that there is nothing I can do to improve my situation * ________I never feel really hopeless – there is always something I can do to improve my situation * ________I would never allow social activities to affect my studies * ________There are many more important things for me than getting good grades * ________Studying everyday is important * ________For some subjects it is not important to go to class * ________I consider myself highly motivated to achieve success in life * ________I am a good writer * ________Doing work on time is always important to me * ________What I learn is more determined by school and subject requirements than by what I want to learn * _________I have been known to spend a lot of time making decisions which others do not take seriously * _________I am easily distracted 148 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY * _________I can be easily talked out of studying * _________I get depressed sometimes and then there is no way I can accomplish what I know I should be doing * _________Things will probably go wrong for me sometime in the near future * __________I keep changing my mind about my career goals * __________I feel I will someday make a real contribution to the world if I work hard at it * __________There has been at least one instance in school where social activity impaired my academic achievement * ___________I would like to graduate from school but there are more important things in my life * ___________I plan well and stick to my plans 149 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY PART 3 Academic Self-Efficacy Scale Please consider the following items and indicate the extent the statement is true about you by circling the number that corresponds with your responses S/N Items 1 2 3 4 5 1 I work hard in my school 2 I could get the best grades in class if I tried enough 3 I could get the best grades if my teacher likes me better 4 Most of my classmates work harder on their homework than I do 5 I will graduate from my school 6 I go to a good school 7 I always get good grades in school when I try hard 8 Sometimes I think an assignment is easy even when my classmates feel differently 9 I am one of the best students in my class 10 No one cares if I do well in school 11 My teacher thinks I am smart 12 My classmates usually get better grades than I do 13 What I learn in school is not important 14 I usually understand my homework 15 It does not matter if I do well in school 16 Classmates who get better grades than I do get more help from teachers than I do 17 I am good at reading my books 18 It is not hard for me to get good grades in school 19 I am smart 20 1will quit school as soon as I can 150 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY PART 4 Academic Motivation Scale INTRINSIC MOTIVATION SCALE ITEM DESCRIPTION 1. I like hard work because it‘s a challenge. 1 2 3 4 5 2. I like to learn as much as I can in school. 1 2 3 4 5 3. I like to go on to new work that‘s at a more difficult level 1 2 3 4 5 4. I like those school subjects that make me think pretty hard and 1 2 3 4 5 figure things out. 5. I like problems because I enjoy trying to figure them out. 1 2 3 4 5 6. I like difficult schoolwork because I find it more interesting. 1 2 3 4 5 Curiosity 7. I ask questions in class because I want to learn new things. 1 2 3 4 5 8. I do extra projects because I can learn about things that interest 1 2 3 4 5 me. 9. I read things because I am interested in the subject. 1 2 3 4 5 10. I do my schoolwork to find out about a lot of things I‘ve been 1 2 3 4 5 wanting to know. 11. I work really hard because I really like to learn new things. 1 2 3 4 5 12. I work on problems to learn how to solve them. 1 2 3 4 5 Independent Mastery 13. I like to try to figure out how to do school assignments on my 1 2 3 4 5 own 14. When I don‘t understand something right away I like to try to 1 2 3 4 5 figure it out by myself. 15. When I make a mistake I like to figure out the right answer by 1 2 3 4 5 myself. 16. If I get stuck on a problem I keep trying to figure out the 1 2 3 4 5 problem on my own. 17. I like to do my schoolwork without help. 1 2 3 4 5 151 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION ITEM DESCRIPTION Easy Work 1. I don‘t like to figure out difficult problems. 1 2 3 4 5 2. I don‘t like difficult schoolwork because I have to work too hard 1 2 3 4 5 3. I like easy work that I am sure I can do. 1 2 3 4 5 4. I like to stick to the assignments which are pretty easy to do. 1 2 3 4 5 5. I like school subjects where it‘s pretty easy to just learn the 1 2 3 4 5 answers. Pleasing Teacher 6. I read things because the teacher wants me to. 1 2 3 4 5 7. I do my schoolwork because teacher tells me to. 1 2 3 4 5 8. I work on problems because I‘m supposed to 1 2 3 4 5 9. I ask questions because I want the teacher to notice me. 1 2 3 4 5 152 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY PART 5 Parental Influence Scale S/N Item SD D A SA 1 My parents feel that one of the best ways to become successful in life is to do well in school 2 My parents feel that I can grow to be anything I want to be 3 My parents feel that I can achieve good grades in school when I work hard 4 My parents feel that receiving good grades is important 5 My parents feel that attending higher institution right after completing high school is first priority 6 My parents told me that if I want to be successful in life I must work hard in school 7 My parents value education and achievement 8 My parents help me each time I need help with my school work 9 My parents believe that going to school is important 10 My parents support my decision about attending a local college or university 153 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY PART 6 Academic anxiety Questionnaire Choose the best option that best suits your response from the following; Never - 1; Rarely -2; Sometime -3; Often -4 and Always -5. * ___________ I have visible signs of nervousness such as sweaty palms, shaky hands, and so on right before a test in school. * ___________ I have "butterflies" in my stomach before a test in school. * ___________ I feel nauseated before a test in school. * ___________I read through the test I am given in school and feel that I do not know any of the answers. * ___________I panic before and during a test in school. * ___________My mind goes blank during a test in school. * ___________ I remember the information that I blanked out on once I get out of the testing situation. * ___________ I have trouble sleeping the night before an academic test. * ___________ I make mistakes on easy questions or put answers in the wrong places during a test. * ___________ I have difficulty choosing answers during a testing situation. 154 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY PART 7 Peer Influence Scale S/N Item SD D A SA 1 Most of my friends in school are doing well in their studies 2 My friends in other schools are among the best students in their school 3 The discussion about how to progress academically occupy centre stage during the interaction with my peers 4 Most of my friends do not have passion for party and merry making 5 My friends consist of many big boys who cannot be isolated from the occurrence of many problems 6 My friends always prefer going for sports than classes 7 There is hardly a week my friends don‘t attend parties 8 Most of my teachers do not approve of my friends and their activities 9 My parents have always complained that I should desist from moving with most of my friends 10 Many of my friends have represented our school at one time or another 11 Many of my friends are class captains 12 Most of my friends are nominated for prefects in their schools 13 Every teacher cherishes our group and make reference to it 14 My friends are loved by my parents 15 Many of my friends have been suspended from their schools 16 Many of my friends encourage me to prepare very well for any examination 17 There is always competition about who is the best between me and my friends ;; 18 Most of my friends come from academically enriched environment 155 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY PART 8 Study Habit Scale The following options have been given as your choice answers. ATT is all the time, MOT is most of the time, SOT is some of the time and NA is not at all. Please choose the option you feel is most appropriate in your opinion. S/N Item ATT MOT SOT NA 1 I listen to teachers in the class and write down notes 2 I follow the examples in the textbooks to solve some problems on my own 3 When I get it wrong, I approach my friends to help me out 4 Whenever we are unable to solve any problem on our own, we approach our teachers privately 5 I solve all problems associated with a thought concept immediately I return from school 6 I set some questions (similar to that of the teacher) in a given topic and solve them on my own 7 I try to solve one problem in a day after school 8 I have exercise books for home practice and use them 9 I practice some topic on my own before the teachers come to teach 10 I do not abandon studying because I cannot solve a given problem 156 UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY