The Relationship between Academic Optimism and Buoyance, the Mediator Role of Academic Self-efficacy

Following a descriptive-correlational design, the present study sought to explore the mediating role of academic self-efficacy in the relationship between students’ academic optimism and academic buonyancy. To analyze structural relationships in this applied study, structural equation modeling was used. Using Morgan’s table and the multistage cluster sampling technique, 380 undergraduate students from a population which comprised all undergraduate students accommodated in the dorms of the University of Mohaghegh Ardabili were included in the sample of the study. To obtain the data required, the liveliness questionnaire developed by Dehghanizadeh and Hosseini-Chari (1391), the academic self-efficacy questionnaire developed by Zajacova,Lynch, and Espenshade (2005), and also the academic optimism questionnaire developed by Tschannen-Moran et al. (2013) were adapted. Using structural equation modeling, the data were analyzed. The values obtained corroborated the fitting of the model. The results gleaned from structural equation modeling showed that academic optimism directly impacts academic liveliness of students, academic self-efficacy directly influences academic liveliness, and still academic optimism affects academic liveliness indirectly through academic self-efficacy. Accordingly, academic self-efficacy is judged to mediate the relationship between academic optimism and academic liveliness.