The comparison of academic achievement and factors related to it in orphans students and students living with parents

The present study was carried out with the purpose of comparing academic achievement and factors related to it in two groups of students with and without. The method of this research was causal-comparative. Whole students with and without parents in the city of Hamedan in the academic year 92-93 comprised the statistical population of the study. Seventy four orphan’s students and 74 students living with their parents were recruited for the study and were individually administered questionnaires tapping academic motivation, academic self-concept and school engagement. The children’s grade point average was used as an index of academic achievement. Gathered data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. Findings showed that orphans students have lower score on academic achievement, intrinsic motivation, confidence, effort, academic self-concept, behavioral engagement, cognitive engagement and school engagement than normal students, while they have higher scores on external motivation, motivation and emotional engagement. Results of this study reveal that orphan children have poor academic achievement. In this case, the variables of self-concept, educational motivation and school engagement play role.