Investigation of the Mediating Role of Academic Self-Efficacy in the Relationship of Social Adjustment with Academic Engagement and Achievement Goals Among High School Students

One of the important goals of the educational system is to provide the ground for all-round growth and training healthy. Present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of academic self-efficacy in the relationships between academic engagement and achievement goals with social adjustment among high school students. The research method was descriptive-correlation with the path analysis-based design. The statistical population included all male high school students in Tehran in 2017-18 such that 546 students were randomly selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. For the data collection, Morgan-Jinks Student Efficacy Scale (MJSES), Zarang Educational Conflict Questionnaire, Sinha and Singh’s Adjustment Inventory and Elliott and Church’s Achievement Goal Questionnaire were used. The results showed that the coefficient of academic engagement (0.50) and achievement goals (0.30) were significant in predicting self-efficacy. The self-efficacy coefficient in adjustment prediction was also significant (0.82). The direct effects of academic engagement (0.06) and achievement goals (-0.29) on predicting adjustment were insignificant and significant, respectively. Based on this data, academic self-efficacy mediates the relationship between academic engagement and adjustment. The role of academic self-efficacy is in the relationship between achievement goals and adjustment was partly. The implication of the findings is that educational approaches, while emphasizing students’ mastery of prerequisites and successful experiences, should consider academic self-efficacy as a fundamental principle and rely on persuasion and explanation in interactions.