International Journal of

Arts , Humanities & Social Science

ISSN 2693-2547 (Print) , ISSN 2693-2555 (Online)
DOI: 10.56734/ijahss
The Impact of College Student Characteristics’ upon the Four Dimensions of Academic Self-Efficacy

Abstract


Academic self-efficacy has been linked to the context of student academic skill sets and belief in mastering their academic subjects which has been suggested to be a significant predictor of academic performance. The goal of our study is to help identify the relative impact of various college student characteristics such as academic behaviors (i.e.: number of incomplete grades or academic withdrawals taken, hours of studying), and pre-existing personality traits (i.e.: grit and coping styles) upon academic self-efficacy dimensions. One hundred college students were surveyed, and results showed that active coping and perseverance of effort, which is a component of grit, had the largest effect on all dimensions of academic self-efficacy. We also discuss how students who seek an increasing amount of incomplete grades or academic withdrawals during their academic career can have a significant reduction of school-work-life balance. Based on our findings and existing research, we discuss providing limits to the number of incomplete grades and withdrawals an undergraduate student can request during the length of their academic career along with counseling recommendations for incoming college students to aid them in developing high academic self-efficacy.