Access Type

Open Access Dissertation

Date of Award

January 2013

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Educational Psychology

First Advisor

Stephen B. Hillman

Abstract

The current study explored several contexts that may influence an adolescent's academic performance in school, including school engagement, parenting behaviors, teacher behaviors, peer relationships, and academic self-efficacy. The outcome of interest was academic performance.

Participants in this study were 332 ninth through twelfth grade high school students (159 males and 164 females) from a suburban public high school in the midwestern United States. The average age of the students was 16.5. The participants completed seven surveys to measure academic performance in school, including school engagement, parenting behaviors, teacher behaviors, peer relationships, and academic self-efficacy.

Mediational analyses were used to investigate if school engagement mediated the relationship between the contextual variables and self-reported academic grades. Partial mediation of school engagement on self-reported academic grades were found for maternal responsiveness, teacher caring, maternal values towards education, paternal values towards education, and academic self-efficacy. School engagement fully mediated the relationship between adaptive peer behaviors and self-reported academic grades. Additionally, three stepwise multiple linear regressions were performed to identify the most important contributor towards academic grades, school engagement, and academic self-efficacy. The most important contributors to academic grades were perceived teacher caring, mother values towards education, and conventional involvement. The greatest influence on school engagement were peer trouble, conventional involvement, perceived teacher caring, and mother responsiveness. Academic self-efficacy was most significantly influenced by conventional involvement, perceived teacher caring, and mother values towards education.

The findings of the current study suggest that multiple factors in the adolescents' life, such as parents, teachers, and peers contribute to personal beliefs about the possibility of success, student engagement in school, and subsequent academic performance. Caretakers of adolescents need to be aware of the multifactorial nature related to an adolescent's academic success.

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