Causal Modeling of Students' Academic Engagement based on Self-efficacy and Help-Seeking with the Mediation of Academic Buoyancy

Aim and Background: In the last few years, academic engagement has been known as the academic quality indicator and one of the goals of higher education, whose underlying factors must be identified. Therefore, the aim of this study was causal modeling of students' academic engagement based on academic self-efficacy and help-seeking with the mediation of academic buoyancy. Methods and Materials: This study was a correlational research based on structural equation modeling (SEM). The statistical population was all undergraduate students of Esfarayen Higher Education Complex, Esfarayen, Iran, in 2016-2017 academic year. The sample included 304 students (253 boys, 51 girls) who were selected using random cluster sampling. Academic Engagement Scale (Fredricks et al.), Academic Buoyancy Scale (Dehghanizadeh and Hosseinchari), Academic Self-efficacy Scale (Owen and Froman), and Academic Help-Seeking Scale (Ryan and Pintrich) were used to measure the intended variables. Findings: Academic self-efficacy and academic help-seeking had a direct, positive, and significant effect on academic engagement. Moreover, they had indirect, positive, and significant effect on academic engagement through academic buoyancy. Academic buoyancy could predict the student academic engagement positively. Overall, the finding suggested that academic buoyancy had a mediating role in the relationship between academic self-efficacy, academic help-seeking, and academic engagement. Enhancing self-efficacy and help-seeking in students helps them overcome their educational problems, and thus increases their academic buoyancy. These factors together provide the conditions for academic engagement.