Prediction of Academic Self-efficacy based on Attachment Styles and Meta-cognitive Skills of Students

The study of academic self-efficacy and factors influencing it in today's society requires special attention for students. The aim of this study was predicting academic self-efficacy based on attachment styles and meta-cognitive skills. It was descriptive-correlational study and statistical samples (n=195) were selected by a cluster-random sampling method from third-grade high school female students of Ahar. Mac Elroy & Banting's academic self-efficacy questionnaire (2002), the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS, Collins & Read, 1990), and the metacognition questionnaire (O'Neil and Abedi, 1996) were employed for data gathering. Correlation analysis results showed a positive and significant relationship between the components of metacognitive skills and academic self-efficacy and the components of secure and insecure avoidance attachment, the relationship between the component of anxious attachment style with academic self-efficacy was negative (p <0.05). Regression analysis, the rate of influence of metacognitive awareness, cognitive strategy, planning, and self-monitoring components on academic self-efficacy was respectively 0.29, 0.28, 0.37, 0.11 (p <0.05). The rate of influence of attachment components (insecure avoidance), proximity (secure), and anxiety on academic self-efficacy were respectively 0.44, 0.24, -0.11, respectively (p <0.05). As with results, the self-efficacy of students can be promoted through significant systematizing the process of teaching-learning as well as anxiety-avoidance conditions.