Self-efficacy as a determinant of academic resilience among postgraduate students

Abstract

Academic resilience is a vital measure of training and performance which in turn help students in accomplishing great instructive results notwithstanding the circumstances. It is widely believed that previous success raises self-efficacy and belief in one’s abilities, thus, leading to resilience. This study investigated the level of academic resilience among postgraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and examined the extent to which postgraduate students’ self-efficacy could determine their academic resilience. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised all postgraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. The sample consisted 581 postgraduate students who were selected using the multistage sampling procedure. Two research instruments: Academic Resilience Scale (ARS) and General Self-efficacy (GSE) were used to elicit information from the students. Percentages and linear regression were used to analyze the data. The results showed that 22.9%, 62.8%, and 14.3% of postgraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University demonstrated low, moderate, and high levels of academic resilience respectively. The results also showed that self-efficacy significantly influenced academic resilience of postgraduate students at (β = 0.244, F = 34.73, p<0.05). the study concluded that self-efficacy was capable of enhancing the academic resilience of postgraduate students in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.