The Mediating Role of Academic Self-efficacy in PredictingAcademic self-handicapping on the Basis ofAttachment Styles and Academic Identity

This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of academic self-efficacy in predicting academic self-handicapping ‎based on attachment styles and academic identity. The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population of this study included all the first grade high school students in Bonab city in 2016-2017 academic year. The research sample was 301 students which were selected from a high school in Bonab by multi-stage cluster sampling. Collins and Reed’s Attachment Style Scale, Waz and Isaacson’s Educational Identity Questionnaire, McIlroy and Bunting’s Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, and Schwinger’s Academic Self-Handicapping Scale were used to collect data. Data analysis was performed by statistical method of path analysis using LISREL 8.8 software. The results of path analysis showed that academic self-efficacy has a significant mediating role in the relationship between attachment styles (safe, unsafe, avoidant and ambivalent) and academic self-handicapping. Academic self-efficacy and academic self-handicapping are statistically significant (P <0.05). Ambivalent insecure attachment style also positively predicts academic self-handicapping through academic self-efficacy. Therefore, attachment styles and academic identity mediated by self-efficacy play an important role in students’ academic self-handicapping.