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

Background: One of the important goals of the educational system is to provide the ground for all-round growth and training healthy.Objectives: 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.Methods: 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. Results: 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.Conclusions: 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.