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Ethnic Differences in Self-Efficacy at Southern Adventist University

Vol: 8, Issue: 1
2016
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Article Description

Concern has been expressed about the poor academic performance of African American students, in comparison to their other ethnic counterparts. Many individuals have attempted to explain this anomaly. A large portion of studies show how socioeconomic standing and parental involvement play a role in the academic achievement gap. A more modest amount used psychological factors to explain the deplorable academic achievement in African Americans. One such psychological factor, self-efficacy, was not well represented in the literature; few papers discussed the association of self-efficacy and African American academic success. The purpose of this study was to compare self-efficacy levels of individuals from differing ethnic groups. The study was non-experimental and used a survey methodology as a means to collect data. A 14-question survey was created, with questions that ascertained self-efficacy, ethnicity, gender, age, class standing, academic discipline, and perceived academic success. The sample of convenience consisted of 394 students from Southern Adventist University. Results showed that there were no significant differences in self-efficacy among differing ethnic groups, academic disciplines, or along the spectrum of age. However, the results did find a statistically significance gender difference in self-efficacy, with males toting higher scores, and a positive correlation between GPA and self-efficacy. This research can help explain how different sexes and ethnic groups believe in their capabilities and this can be extrapolated to academia, to answer the question of achievement gaps.

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