Self-Efficacy, Achievement Motivation, and Academic Progress of Students with Learning Disabilities: A Comparison with Typical Students

Many factors including self-efficacy and achievement motivation can affect children’s academic progress. Studies have shown that socioeconomic status can affect people’s life, education, and vocation. However, not many studies looked at the relations between the intrinsic factors and socioeconomic status, and between these 2 categories and students’ academic progress in children with learning disabilities. Thus, the present study aimed at examining self-efficacy, achievement motivation, and academic progress of students with learning disabilities compared with typical students and looking for any possible relation between these variables and socioeconomic status (parental education and occupation).

This was a cross sectional study, which included 34 students with learning disabilities and 32 typical students matched on age, gender, and school grade. The participants answered Sherer et al.’s self-efficacy scale (1982) and Herman’s achievement motivation questionnaire (2000). Students’ academic progress was evaluated based on the descriptive scores in the first semester.

Scores of children with learning disabilities in self-efficacy, achievement motivation, and academic progress were significantly lower than those of matched controls (P<0.0001). Results revealed moderate positive correlations between academic progress and different levels of self-efficacy (rs = 0.441, P<0.0001, N = 66); and between academic progress and achievement motivation (rs = 0.645, P<0.0001, N = 66). The results of the correlation analysis demonstrated weak to moderate positive correlations between academic progress and parental education (rs = 0.39, P = 0.001), academic progress and father’s occupation (rs = 0.323, P = 0.008), achievement motivation and parental education (rs = .34, p = 0.009, N = 66), and finally achievement motivation and father’s occupation (rs = 0.285, P = 0.02, N = 66).

Lower levels of self-efficacy and achievement motivation in students with learning disabilities indicate that relying on only Individualized Educational Program cannot solve problems of these children. The relations between academic progress and different factors (intrinsic and environmental) suggest a complex explanation for the children’s lower academic progress.