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THE CONTRIBUTION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS ON
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF RURAL STUDENTS IN THE
INTERIOR SCHOOLS OF SABAH DIVISION
Getrude C. Ah Gang @ Grace 1
Crispina Gregory K Han 2
Lawrence Alan Bansa 3
1Senior Lecturer, Unit for Rural Education Research, University Malaysia Sabah (getrudec@ums.edu.my)
2Senior Lecturer, Unit for Rural Education Research, University Malaysia Sabah (crispina@ums.edu.my)
3Lecturer, University College, Sabah Foundation
Accepted date: 07-02-2019
Published date: 31-03-2019
To cite this document: Gang, G. C. A., Han, C. G. K., & Bansa, L. A. (2019). The
Contribution of Psychological Factors on Academic Achievement of Rural Students in The
Interior School of Sabah Division. International Journal of Education, Psychology and
Counseling, 2(27), 76-90.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Abstract: This study examines the effects of three psychological factors (i.e., academic self-
efficacy, psychological well-being & parental supports) on rural students’ academic
achievement. The study predicted that the three factors contributed to students’ academic
achievement. There were 1586 students from 21 rural schools in the interior division of Sabah
involved in this study. A questionnaire with four parts was used to measure all variables. Part
A measures the demographic variables (i.e., the current academic achievement, academic
level, age, gender, and school); Part B measures the academic self-efficacy. Part C measures
parental involvement in the students’ academics, and Part D measures psychological well-
being. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyse the data. Parental support in
students’ academic tasks contributed positively 1% on the variance of students’ academic
achievement. In Step 2, when the students’ academic self-efficacy included, both factors (i.e.,
parental support & academic self-efficacy) contributed 5% on academic achievement. In Step
3, parental support, academic self-efficacy, and psychological well-being contributed
positively 7% on academic achievement. The findings showed that parental support, students’
academic self-efficacy, and psychological well-being can be good predictors to academic
achievement of rural students. These findings provide positive insights to the relevant
authorities, such as the schools department, Sabah Education Department, and the Parent-
Teacher Associations, to create relevant academic programs which may give more
opportunity for parents to get involved in any relevant academic activities at schools and
which may level up the awareness among parents of their role in supporting their children’s
academic performance. Besides parental involvement, students’ academic self-efficacy and
psychological well-being also need to be taken into consideration by the relevant authorities
in enhancing rural students’ academic achievement.
Volume: 4 Issues: 27 [March, 2019] pp.76-90]
International Journal of Education, Psychology and Counseling
eISSN: 0128-164X
Journal website: www.ijepc.com
77
Keywords: Academic Self-efficacy, Psychological Well-being, Parental Supports
___________________________________________________________________________
Introduction
In today’s academic world, academic achievement is one of the major concerns among
parents, teachers and particularly, students. Academic achievement has been addressed from
the educational and psychological point of view (Tabbodi, Rahgozar & Abadi., 2015). To
achieve excellent academic results, students need to put more effort into increasing their
competency and capability to understand the subject and skills to accomplish school
homework and projects. In addition, parents’ and teachers’ supports may boost students’ level
of confidence in pursuing and achieving their academic goals and gain better results.
Academic life, as we all know is full of challenges and excitement as well. With continuous
support from parents, a positive learning environment and students’ competency in dealing
with the academic tasks, students may gain better academic results.
In regard to rural students in Sabah, some students might face challenges such as facing low
academic self-efficacy and psychological well-being as well as lack of support from parents.
These might cause a barrier for students to perform better academically. This is because,
besides the preceding factors, rural students may also face other problems such as the school
distance from home, lack of school facilities, and poor standard of living, which may reduce
students’ interest to go to school. Based on the experience of the researcher to a few interior
places in Sabah, such as the Sulit village, Paitan, one student declared that the distance to
school from home was quite far and she needed to spend a large sum of money daily, which is
fairly expensive for the school children in that area. Her father was working as a farmer, and
her mother was a housewife. Due to these factors, the student rarely went to school, and she
tended to spend her time at home taking care of her siblings. In other cases, the school
children in the interior must stay in boarding schools far away from their family because of
the distance to school. Although there are many psychological factors that affect students’
academic achievement, in this study, researchers only focus on three psychological factors
(i.e., academic self-efficacy, psychological well-being, and parental support) which we
assume may contribute to rural students’ academic achievement as revealed in past studies.
Literature Review
Parental Supports
Parental support plays a major role in students’ academic lives besides support from teachers
(Jeffery, Lehr, Hache & Campbell, 1992). Siana, Lightbody, Stock, and Walsh’s study (1998)
revealed that Asian students rated parents and friends as more important in contributing to
their academic success. Parental involvement in academics refers to how students perceived
the level of parental involvement in supervising and monitoring their academic tasks. Parental
involvement has been defined and measured in multiple ways, including the activities that
parents engage in at home and at school and the positive attitudes parents have towards their
children's education, school, and teachers (Epstein, 1996; Kohl, Lengua, & McMahon, 2000).
Rural parents mostly engaged in invisible forms of parental involvement in their children’s
schools, such as attending parent-teacher meetings, school events, and parent-teacher
associations. Past studies (e.g., (e.g., Chohan & Khan, 2010; Mante, Awereh, & Kumea,
2015; Topor, Keane, Shelton & Calkins, 2010) revealed that children whose parents are more
involved in their education have higher levels of academic performance compared to children
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whose parents are involved to a lesser degree. Parental involvement in a children's education
is consistently found to be positively associated with a children's academic performance
(Topor et al.,2010). In contrast, Walton, Azizi and Zakaria’s (2014) study revealed that there
is no relationship between parental involvement and the academic achievement of aboriginal
students in Seletar, Johor. We, however, believe that parental involvement in academics can
be the best predictor for students’ academic self-efficacy towards academic achievement.
In reality, some parents spend only limited time guiding and advising their children’s
academic tasks. This may be because they place more responsibility on teachers. As stated by
Kong (2016), rural parents often place responsibility for their children’s success in school on
teachers and the students themselves, due to lack of education and poor living conditions.
When parents have not been to school and remain illiterate and innumerate, the school cannot
expect that they will understand educational aims or activities. The lack of parental support
creates a major problem for schools and children (Chohan & Khan, 2010). Besides that, some
parents feel unable to assist and supervise their children, such as in doing their homework and
school projects, because they do not know how. This might be due to parents’ academic level
and their spending more time working independently as farmers, fishermen or carpenters to
support their families’ financial income. Another factor is some parents are unable to bear the
cost of education. As stated by Chandra and Geetha (2009), that the main problem that
contributes to the educational problems in rural areas is the poor standard of living and
inability to bear the cost of education. This may increase the number of dropouts in schools.
Elliot (1987) stated that many rural students had expected to follow in their parents' footsteps
by either taking over the farm or accepting blue-collar employment; and although they
acknowledged this was no longer possible, they feel powerless and therefore unable to replace
their expectations with more viable ones. Jeffery et al. (1992) stated that the rural situation
presents unique challenges to the career decision-making process of young people. Unlike
their urban counterparts, youth in rural and remote areas generally must leave home to attend
post-secondary school. Lack of emotional support and financial support from parents may
reduce students’ interest to pursue their study. Besides the distance between home and school,
this might be one of the reasons why the dropout rate in rural schools is very high. In addition,
many rural parents also do not see value in education; they would rather their children work at
their farms (Deborah, in Chong, 2017).
Based on the preceding argument, we, however, believe that not all rural parents lack
attention on their children’s academic achievement. Currently, many rural parents are
educated and aware of the contribution of academic success to their children’s future careers.
Parents, whether highly educated or not, have realized the importance of their children
acquiring an education (Abigail & Okonkwo, 2013). Therefore, in our study, we predicted
that parental support can be a predictor to students’ academic achievement as revealed in past
studies (e.g., Chohan & Khan, 2010; Mante et al., 2015; Topor et al., 2010).
Academic Self-Efficacy
Other than parental academic support, academic self-efficacy is also one of the important
predictors for students’ academic achievement. Academic self-efficacy refers to students’
beliefs in their own capabilities to do their schoolwork completely and successfully. It is also
defined as personal judgments of one’s own capabilities to organize and execute courses of
action to attain designated types of educational performances (Zimmerman, 2000). Rural
students, like urban students, are well-equipped with good learning facilities which may help
79
enhance their academic efficacy in accomplishing their academic tasks and homework. With
support from parents and teachers, students are more competent in performing their academic
tasks. However, we cannot deny that some schools and boarding schools in rural areas have
poor conditions. According to the Bernama report (October 21, 2018), the Sabah government
stated that at least 54.5% of schools in Sabah are classified as dilapidated and require
immediate maintenance and repair. Despite these conditions, teachers in rural areas play
significant roles in educating and supporting students’ academic achievement. This was
proven based on the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia 2018 results. The students in rural schools in
Sabah performed better than their peers in urban schools (Jeffery, 2019).
Wan Hanum Suraya and Jamal Nordin (2017) stated that self-efficacy is an important element
in helping individuals be able to face difficulties in life. Their study, which involved
secondary-school students in Perak, found that male students exhibited a higher level of
efficacy in mathematics, computer science and social sciences, compared to the female
students who had a higher level of efficacy in literature and language. Lane and Lane’s (2001)
study found that students’ self-efficacy to cope with the intellectual demands of the program
contributed to academic performance variance. Other past studies (e.g., Erlanger, Turner, &
Chandler, 2009 et al., 2009; Hasan, Hossain & Islam, 2014; Pajares, 1996) also revealed that
self-efficacy predicted academic performance. One of the major challenges of students in
rural areas is some of them tend to score low in academic self-efficacy compared to urban
students. As stated in Md Sawari, Ghazali and Mansor’s (2015) study, a majority of rural
students in Ledang, Johor have intermediate learning self-efficacy. Students in the rural still
have a medium interest in learning. Some students still have low level of interest in learning.
Similarly, Zalika Adam, Faridah Kassim, & Mohd Johdi Salleh (2009) and Ismail Kailani and
Khairuzaman Ismail (2010) that found that students in rural areas have a low interest in
learning.
One of the reasons for this lack of interest in learning might be that students spend less time in
doing study revision and homework. Students who believe their own capability to achieve
academic goals tend to succeed in academia. The amounts of time spent studying each week
significantly correlated with academic self-efficacy. When students study more, they are more
likely to be more confident and understand the subject content or any academic material, and
this may contribute to their academic success. However, when students spend little time
studying, they are more likely to doubt their grasp of the material (Erlanger et al, 2009).
When students feel competent in doing their academic tasks, they may feel more confident,
and this may also influence students’ well-being. To achieve academic success and develop
relevant strategies in handling academic work, students need to increase their academic self-
efficacy, such as the ability to figure out difficult homework and complete schoolwork
successfully.
Psychological Well-Being
According to Petersen (2017), students do best in school when they have good mental health
and are satisfied with their lives. No matter how good schools and teachers are, students’
academic achievement suffers when they are unhappy. Healthy psychological well-being can
bring positive energy for students to study, learn, and embrace more academic knowledge.
We just imagine if we in a bad mood, we tend to have lack of energy to perform well in any
task given to us. Some people perceived academic life is filled with challenges and academic
load. Therefore, one way to combat the academic challenges life is to gain positive well-being
that may create a positive environment and interest to learn and to gain better academic grade.
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Adler’s study (2017) revealed that students’ well-being may improve academic achievement
and can predict career success. Therefore, in order for adolescents to achieve their life goals
and obtain academic success, it is important for them to be in a psychologically healthy
condition.
Turashvili and Japaridze (2012) in their study revealed that students who have a high index of
well-being have a medium and high level of academic performance. This is in line with
Tabbodi et al.’s (2015) study that found a positive relationship between happiness and
achievement motivation. It showed that happiness is one of the variables that are related to
academic achievement. Ng, Huebner and Hills’ (2015) study, which involved 821 middle
school students in the United States, showed that life satisfaction and academic performance
seem to have a reciprocal influence on each other. Specifically, students with higher life
satisfaction are more likely to get higher grades in the future, and students who get higher
grades are more likely to see their life satisfaction go up. Quinn and Duckworth’s (2007)
study also revealed that participants with higher well-being were more likely to earn higher
final grades, even when controlling for intelligence, age, and past academic achievement.
The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of three psychological factors (i.e.,
academic self-efficacy, psychological well-being & parental supports) on academic
achievement. We believe that each psychological factor that we predict may enhance rural
students’ academic achievement, and these factors need to be studied and understood.
Therefore, in this study, we examine the effects of the three important factors (i.e., academic
self-efficacy, psychological well-being, and parental supports) on students’ academic
achievement. Although past studies revealed on the significant effects of these three factors
on students’ academic achievement, there is still a lack of studies focusing on rural schools,
particularly in the interior schools in Sabah.
Research framework
This study used the self-determination theory (SDT) as a guideline to understand the effects
of the three psychological factors on academic achievement. Based on this theory, we believe
that the three components emphasised in the theory (i.e., autonomy, competence, and
relatedness) can represent the three psychological factors that we examined in this study. SDT
is a broad theory of human personality and motivation concerned with how the individual
interacts with and depends on the social environment. SDT is centered on the basic
psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness (Legaults, 2017). The
competency in SDT theory may represent academic self-efficacy; autonomy may represent
one’s well-being; and relatedness may represent support from close ones, such as parents.
According to Deci and Ryan (2002), competency is defined as feeling effective in one’s
ongoing interactions with the social environment and experiencing opportunities to exercise
and express one’s capacities. Autonomy refers to be the perceived origin or source of one’s
own behavior, in this case, physical activity. Autonomy is also defined as acting in
accordance with one's values, related to well-being across cultures (Wichmann, 2011).
Researchers believe that the three elements in the self-determinants theory, i.e., autonomy,
competence and relatedness, can enhance our understanding of the effects of three
psychological factors (i.e., academic self-efficacy, psychological well-being and parental
support) on rural students’ academic achievement.
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Methodology
Study Design
The study was conducted once researchers received approval from the Ministry of Education.
The schools’ rosters were obtained from the Sabah Department of Education at the Ministry
of Education. Researchers went to each selected school in the Interior Sabah Division to give
brief information about the study to the school principals and teachers, who assisted in
delivering a set of questionnaires which consist of four parts. The survey method was used to
collect data for this study. Participants were given a questionnaire consisting of four parts that
measure students’ demographic profile (e.g. age, gender, academic year, academic
achievement), academic self-efficacy, parents’ involvement in academic and students’
psychological well-being.
Participants
Participant selection is based on the convenient random sampling. There were 1586 school
children who took part in this study. They came from various secondary schools in the interior
division of Sabah (i.e., Beaufort, Keningau, Kuala Penyu, Membakut, Pensiangan, Sipitang,
Tambunan & Tenom). The participants’ ages ranged from 15 to 17 years old.
Instruments
A questionnaire which consisted of four parts was used in this study.
Part A: Demographic Profile. The 18 items in Demographic profile include age,
gender, ethnicity, and level of education and students’ current academic results to measure
their academic performance.
Part B: Academic Self-efficacy. The Academic self-efficacy scale consists of
three items which measure academic self-efficacy (Hoover-Dempsey, & Sandler, 2005). The
response scale provided was as follows: 1 (not true) to 4 (very true). The items to measure
achievement motivation were as following, ‘I can do even the hardest homework if I try,’ and
‘I can figure out difficult homework’. This scale assesses student beliefs about personal
abilities to complete schoolwork successfully.
Part C: Parental Academic Involvement. The parental academic involvement
scale consists of four items. The rating scale was made on a 5-point scale (1=strongly
disagree, 5=strongly agree). Four items assessed students’ perceived academic monitoring:
“My parents monitor whether I have done my homework”, “My parents supervise whether I
do my best in academics”, “My parents monitor my academic outcomes”, “My parents
supervise whether I make progress”.
Part D: Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Inventory. The Ryff’s Psychological
Well-Being Inventory, which consists of 18 items, was used to measure the psychological
well-being of students. There are 8 negative items (i.e., item no 1, 4, 5, 8, 15, 16, 17, 18).
These items are reverse-scored so that higher scores correspond to greater psychological well-
being. The response scale provided was: 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree).
Data Screening and Cleaning
We checked the normality of data and missing values before the data were analyzed. We also
checked the possible outliers for each scale by using the standardized scores or z-scores.
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Based on Tabachnick and Fidell (2001) suggestions, standardized scores in excess of 3.29
(p<.001, two-tailed test) were identified as potential outliers. In this study, the total number of
participants was 1586. Table 1 shows the skewness and kurtosis values for the five scales, and
they all are considered acceptable (i.e. below 2).
Table 1: The Values of Skewness and Kurtosis for Each Scale
Scales
Skewness
Kurtosis
Academic self-efficacy
.26
.60
Parental support in academic
-.89
1.36
Psychological well-being
Academic Achievement
.02
1.08
1.22
.84
According to George and Mallery (2010), the values for asymmetry and kurtosis between -2
and +2 are considered acceptable in order to prove normal univariate distribution. West et al.
(1996) proposed a reference of substantial departure from normality as an absolute skew
value > 2 (West, Finch, & Curran, 1995). The missing values for academic self-efficacy are
0.2% academic achievement, and perceived parental involvement in students’ academic task
is 1.43% and. psychological well-being, 3.08%.
Data Analysis
We used the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) to run the descriptive and
inference analyses. The research hypotheses were analyzed by using the hierarchical
Regression. The inter-items correlations values for each scale are acceptable and ranged from
.61 to .83 (see Table 2).
Table 2: The Reliability Values of Each Scale (N=1586)
Scales
Number of
items
Reliability
Values
Academic Self-efficacy
3 items
.61
Parental support in academic
4 items
.83
Psychological well-being
18 items
.83
Table 3 shows the demographic profiles of participants. The majority of the participants are
females (i.e., 894) and the remaining 690 are males. Two participants did not reveal their
gender. A majority of participants have more than four siblings, i,e., 71.80%. In terms of
students’ academic achievement, only 11.6% of students achieved satisfactory academic
achievement. Academic achievement measured based on students’ recent academic results
reported by the students. Most of students passed, but unsatisfactory i.e., 1010 (63.70%). In
terms of their fathers’ occupation, 86% of fathers are working and only 9% are not working
and 4.9% did not mention their occupation. The numbers of mothers who are working is 42%
(667) who worked in the government and private sectors or independently while 56.20% are
as housewives, and 1.7% did not mention their occupation status.
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Table 3: The Demographic Profiles of Participants
Variables
Numbers
Percentage
Gender
Male
Female
Missing values
690
894
2
43.50
56.40
0.10
Siblings
1-3
4-6
7-9
More than 10
Missing
371
755
291
92
77
23.40
47.60
18.30
5.80
4.90
Religion
Muslim
Christian
Buddha
Hindu
Others
Missing values
643
914
22
4
2
40.50
57.60
1.40
0.10
0.30
0.10
Academic Achievement
Failed all subjects
Passed unsatisfactorily (mostly grade
D)
Passed (with grade C or D)
Passed satisfactorily (A and B)
Excellence
Missing values
79
1010
281
169
15
32
5.0
63.70
17.70
10.70
0.90
2.0
Father Occupation
Government
Private
Work independently
Not working
Missing values
340
151
874
143
78
21.40
9.50
55.10
9.0
4.90
Father’s salary
More than RM3000
RM2501-3000
RM2001-2500
RM1001-2000
Below RM1000
Not relevant
Missing values
95
65
79
169
930
67
181
6.0
4.10
5.0
10.70
58.60
4.20
11.40
Mother Occupation
Government
Private
Work independently
Not working
Missing values
202
49
416
892
27
12.70
3.10
26.20
56.20
1.7
Mother’s salary
84
More than RM3000
RM2501-3000
RM2001-2500
RM1001-2000
Below RM1000
Not relevant
Missing values
58
33
40
60
445
158
794
3.70
2.10
2.50
3.80
28.10
10
49.90
Based on the students’ current academic achievement, the study showed that 79 (5%) of
students failed all subjects, while 95% passed. However, only 184 (11.60%) achieved
satisfactory and excellent results.
Table 4 shows the correlation analysis among the three psychological factors. All three factors
correlated significantly and positively to each other.
Table 4: The Correlations between the Three Psychological Factors
Variables
r
values
Significant
values
Parental support & Academic self-efficacy
.27
.001
Parental support & psychological well-being
.37
.00
Academic self-efficacy & psychological
well-being
.39
.00
Table 5 shows that parental supports contributed positively 1% of the variance on academic
achievement. In Step 2, when we included academic self-efficacy, the two factors (i.e.
parental support and students’ academic self-efficacy) contributed 5% on the academic
achievement. In Step 3, parental support, academic self-efficacy, and psychological well-
being contributed positively to academic achievement, i.e. 7% of the psychological well-being
variance.
Table 5: Hierarchical Regression Analyses to Examine The Effects of Academic self-
efficacy, Parental Support and Psychological Well-being on Academic Achievement
Predictors
Academic Achievement
∆ R2
β
sig
Step 1
Parental support in academics
.01
.09
.00
Step 2
Parental support in academics
Academic self-efficacy
.05
.02
.22
.60
.00
Step 3
Parental support in academics
Academic self-efficacy
Psychological well-being
.07
-.02
.18
.14
.55
.00
.00
85
Discussions
The Effects of Parental Support on Students’ Academic Achievement
This study shows that parental support contributes to students’ academic achievement. This is
in line with past studies (e.g., Mante et al., 2015; Topor et al., 2010) which showed that
parental involvement contributed to academic achievement. In this study parental support is
measured based on students’ perception towards their parents in terms of their parents’
involvement in academic tasks (i.e.,supervising and monitoring their children’s homework,
academic outcomes & progress). The findings showed that rural parents spent time
supervising and taking care of their students’ academic work and progress although some
report stated that rural parents particularly showed a lack of involvement in students’
academic work. As stated by Rabahia, Yusof and Awang (2015), there was less indication of
parental involvement in the school, parents visited school more often for specific events and
reasons, such as attending the registration day, visiting their children at the hostel, receiving
students’ academic progress reports, and attending scheduled events such as parents-teacher
meetings, prize-giving days, sports days and organised special prayer prior to scheduled
examinations. In certain cases, other family members, including grandparents, siblings, and
parents’ siblings, took on the conceptual role of parents to fill up the parental involvement
gaps (Rabahia, Yusof & Awang, 2015). In addition, some poor parents made some
arrangements for helping their children in studies and home assignments, while others rely on
school for the education of their children since they did not have enough resources to spend
extra money on tutoring (Choan & Khan, 2010).
In this study, a majority of fathers, 1365 (86%) were working and only 143 (9%) were not
working and 78 (4.9%) did not mention their occupation. Among mothers, 667 (42%) were
working either in the government sector, private sector, or independently, while 892 (56.20%)
were housewives and 27 (1.7%) did not mention their occupation status. We believe that most
parents are literate, aware of the importance of education, and involved in their students’
academic work and progress although they are living in a rural area. In today’s era, we believe
that most rural parents are educated and concerned about their students’ academic
achievement. They will do their best to fulfill their children’s academic needs and try to
improve weaknesses in the education of their children (Abigail & Okonkwo, 2013). In China
and Khan’s study (2010), parents’ contribution to their children's education has a consistent
and positive effect on academic achievement and on the self-concept.
In this study, we did not examine the effects of parents’ educational background on students’
academic achievement. In the future, it might be interesting if this factor also could also be
examined by researchers. This is because parents’ educational background and socio-
economic background can also affect students’ academic achievement (Santhasaran &
Othman, 2017). We focus more on parental involvement in academic. According to
Santhasaran and Othman (2017), most students who get low grades and drop out of school
come from families with a lack of support and supervision in terms of academic progress.
Parental involvement and support play an important role in the rural students’ journey to
college (Yanbarough, 2016). Research by Cotton and Wikelund (1982) conducted in Portland
revealed that parental involvement in children's learning is positively related to achievement.
Further, the research showed the more intensively parents were involved in their children's
learning, the more beneficial were the achievement effects. Another study by Lv, Zhou, Guo,
Liu, Liu, and Luo (2016) also revealed that parental engagement with school impacts both the
academic achievements and subjective well-being of children in China. Parental engagement
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included punishing their children to go to school to ensure that their children did their
homework. Parents, especially fathers, would not hesitate to cane the children, for offenses
such as refusing to go to school, lying about not having homework, and misbehaving. Parents
strictly monitored their children’s academic performance for their better future life. This is
because they believed that their involvement in their children’s academic work would
enhance their children’s academic performance as we have found to be.
The Effects of Academic Self-efficacy on Academic Achievement
Past studies have found (e.g., Erlanger et al., 2009; Hasan et al., 2014; Pajares, 1996) that
self-efficacy predicted academic performance, and this supports our study that students’
academic self-efficacy enhances their academic achievement. When students believe they can
achieve success in their academic studies, the more likely they are to succeed academically
(Erlanger et al., 2009). In our study, we believed that although students lived in rural areas,
teachers and parents played a role in increasing students’ academic self-efficacy. In this study,
academic self-efficacy refers to how well students figure out their difficult homework.
We believe other than teachers’ and parents’ support, students may take their initiative to
spend more time each week studying. When students study more, they are more likely to be
confident in their knowledge of the material, which may also increase their academic success.
However, when students spend little time studying, they are more likely to doubt their grasp
of the material (Erlanger et al., 2009). Individuals with a weak notion of self-efficacy are
inclined to think that tasks seem more difficult than they are. These thoughts create a breeding
ground for feelings of failure, depression, tension, and helplessness. A strong notion of self-
efficacy, on the other hand, creates feelings of tranquility and being challenged in the face of
difficult tasks (Hassan et al., 2014). The improvement and development of self-efficacy have
a positive impact on students’ future. The symptoms of low learning self-efficacy are
inactivity and belief that hard work is meaningless. If students think that success is something
possible, they will strive to reach the goals, no matter what obstacles may occur along the way
(Md. Sawari, Ghazali, & Mansor, 2014).
In addition, Yahaya and Latif (2005) stated that self-efficacy contributes to building students’
confidence level in facing challenges and problems. When students realize their capabilities,
they have the confidence to reach the goal; thus, they will put forth an effort to reach it.
Moreover, when students believe that they will be able to achieve their goals, their behavior,
actions, and attitude will indirectly lead them in that direction. A study by Caprara, Steca,
Gerbino, and Paciello (2006) revealed that 664 Italian adolescents’ self-efficacy beliefs
contributed to happiness and positive thinking concurrently and longitudinally. This might be
also one of the reasons why students who have high in academic self-efficacy perform better
in academic as found in our study.
The Effects of Psychological Well-being on Academic Achievement
Our study showed that positive well-being contributes to better academic achievement. This is
in line with past studies (e.g., Adler, 2017; Tabbodi et al., 2015; Turashvilli & Japaridze,
2012; Quinn & Duckworth, 2007) that students’ well-being can enhance academic
achievement. Therefore, it is good if the school can create a positive environment for school
children to promote healthy and happy emotions which may promote better academic
performance. This as stated by Goksoy (2017) that school environments and environmental
processes are open social systems, and they can have a direct impact on students’ emotions
and behaviour. Happiness means that people live in an environment that is convenient for
87
their basic values. The more the living environment, daily life routines, and conditions of a
person are coherent to his basic values, the more he is happy and satisfied with life.
Students who define themselves as successful state that they have few unhappy memories.
When students are in happy living conditions and environments and experience positive
emotions, they feel happier and more successful. Petersen (2017) stated that students do their
best in school when they have good mental health and are satisfied with their lives. Therefore,
no matter how good schools and teachers are, students’ academic achievement suffers when
they are unhappy. According to Goksoy’s (2017) study, school experiences and situations that
make students happy throughout their educational lives include participation in the classroom
and school activities, participation in the lesson, appreciation, rewarding, success, and social
relationships. In this study, we believe that when students are in a positive mood, they tend to
feel more confident and optimistic. Happy people are better able to face and overcome their
life problems and enhance their happiness. When one is happy, the world is easier, safer, and
more pleasant (Honce, 2006). As Lyubomirsky, King and Diener stated that “happy people
appear to be more successful than their less happy peers in the three primary life domains:
work, relationships, and health” (p. 825). However, in our study, we also believe when happy
students will be more successful in their academic life as what revealed in our study.
Conclusions
The three psychological factors (i.e. parental support, academic self-efficacy, and
psychological well-being) in this study showed positive and significant effects on students’
academic achievement. We hope our research findings may give a positive motivation to the
relevant authorities to provide more educational programs which may enhance students’
academic self-efficacy. This may help students to be more competent in performing their
academic tasks and projects. At the same time, schools may also need to create a positive
school environment which creates a sense of positive well-being in students. This may help
them to combat academic and family stress and another kind of challenges. On the other hand,
parents-children Associations will heighten parental involvement in students’ academic
activities with support from the school. This will generate more awareness among parents of
their pivotal role in helping their children to gain academic success for their future. It is our
hope that our findings will generate interest among psychologists and educational researchers
to explore other potential variables (such as school conditions, the family standard of living
and parents’ educational level particularly in rural areas) that may also enhance academic
achievement goals
Acknowledgements
We would like to convey our thanks to the University Malaysia Sabah for the research grant
and to the Ministry of Education for the approval to conduct this study. Also, thanks to all our
dedicated participants who were willing to spend their time to respond to our questionnaires.
Our thanks also go to the school principals and teachers in 21 rural schools who assisted us in
the data collection process. Your support and kind assistance will always be treasured.
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