Background & Aims: Academic success is one of the most important criteria for the evaluation of educational systems. Academic progress is a term used to refer to the results of the individual’s performance in mental areas that are taught in school, college and university and is considered as a very important indicator for predicting his or her personal and social prosperity (Spinath, 2012). The multidimensional nature of academic performance requires that further research be conducted to identify the relevant factors. In addition, the early 2020 was marked by the outbreak and pandemic of a novel viral disease known as COVID-19. To control the spread of the disease and reduce the resulting cross-infections, governments decided to switch to online mode of teaching. Although the online learning method was promising in maintaining the educational courses and minimizing the disruptions imposed to learning routines, it created more challenges for the learners; one of the most important challenges was an increase in teachers and parents’ complaints regarding a decline in the academic performance of the learners. Therefore, it is of particular importance to examine the predictor variables of academic performance under the special conditions caused by Covid-19. An important variable related to academic performance is personality traits. Based on the results of various studies, the personality traits of the learners, as a psychological factor, affect the learners’ academic progress (De Baca et al., 2010). The results of former research shows that agreeableness and conscientiousness are positive predictors and emotionality is a negative predictor of high academic performance. In most studies, the role of extroversion and openness to experience in predicting academic performance was positive but weak (Gulam et al., 2021).
Another psychological structure that is likely to predict students' academic performance is resilience. The findings of different studies show that resilience increases students' effort and persistence in pursuing issues and completing challenging assignments, thereby facilitating the possibility of achieving high-level learning outcomes. On the contrary, people with low resilience against the difficulties of assignments and possible problems give up very quickly during the learning process and fail to achieve the expected academic results (Novotný & Křeménková, 2016). Another factor that influences students' academic performance is self-efficacy (cited by Talsma, Robertson, Thomas, & Norris, 2022). It seems that self-efficacy increases the learner’s hope of success in a specific field through increasing motivation, and thus increases his or her persistence in doing assignments (Honicke & Broadbent, 2016). In addition, high self-efficacy by declining anxiety plays an essential role in a person's academic success (Maier et al., 2021). On the other hand, the results of a few other studies (including those by Baker, Caswell & Eccles, 2018; Li, Han, Wang, Sun, & Cheng, 2018; Comfort & Wernicke, 2016; Iglesia, Stover, & Lipris, 2014) indicate a relationship between social support and academic performance. It seems that the student's perception of social support strengthens the individual's psychological capital: a concept that includes positive variables such as hope, resilience, self-efficacy and optimism.
Previous studies, focusing on a number of these variables, have shown their relationship with each other and their effect on academic performance. In fact, the simultaneous examining of these variables can determine their relative efficiency in predicting academic performance. In the current study, the researcher, inspired by multivariable phenomena, has attempted to compile and experimentally test a comprehensive theoretical model including the most important predictor variables of academic performance among female students at senior high school.
Methods: The research method was correlational with a structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the present study included all the female students of senior high schools in District 2 of Tehran in the academic year of 2021-2022, from which a sample of 400 students were selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling method. After entering the data in SPSS software, the data were analyzed using the structural equation modeling method with AMOS software. Data collection tools included McCree and Costa’s (2008) five-factor NEO-FFI-R questionnaire, the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale by Zimmet, Dahlem, Zimet and Farley (1988), Scherer et al.’s (1982) general self-efficacy scale, Connor and Davidson's (2003) Resilience Scale and Pham and Taylor's (1999) Standard Academic Performance Questionnaire.
Results: With regard to the findings, the fit indices such as the ratio of chi-square to the degree of freedom (df/χ²) with a value of 4.24, the incremental fit index (IFI) with a value of 0.96, the comparative fit index (CFI) with a value of 0.95 , goodness of fit index (GFI) with a value of 0.93, Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) of0.91, adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI = 0.90), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) with a value of 0.07 indicates a good fit of the proposed model with the data. The coefficients of the direct path and their direction have been determined. These coefficients are significant at the level (χ² ≥ 0.05) and the direct hypotheses related to them have been confirmed. It should be noted that in the figure representing the proposed model (Figure 1), the predictor variables explain a sum of 74% of the variance of the dependent variable (academic performance).
It should be noted that in the present study, indirect hypotheses were investigated through the mediating variables of self-efficacy and resilience with the bootstrap method. The results showed:
- Personality traits have a significant indirect relationship with academic performance through resilience (the lower limit of the confidence interval is 0.0282 and the upper limit is 0.0950).
- The indirect relationship of personality traits with academic performance is not significant through self-efficacy (the lower limit of the confidence interval is -0.0231 and the upper limit is 0.0727).
- Social support has a significant indirect relationship with academic performance through resilience (the lower limit of the confidence interval is 0.0304 and the upper limit is 0.1308).
- The indirect relationship of social support with academic performance is significant through self-efficacy (the lower limit of the confidence interval is 0.0431 and the upper limit is 0.1131).
Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that the proposed model of students' academic performance based on personality traits and perceived social support mediated by resilience and self-efficacy under covid-19 conditions had a good fit with the data. In general, the predictor variables have explained about 74% of the variance of the dependent variable (academic performance) in the current study. To explain the model, it can be said that the variables of personality traits and social support have a causal relationship with academic performance. Also, these variables affect students' academic performance through the mediating variables of resilience and self-efficacy. By clarifying some of the predictor variables of academic performance, this study highlights the important roles of parents, school personnel, and social media: Firstly, by creating peace in families, schools, and the community, they should improve the adaptive personality traits of children and adolescents. Secondly, by providing all kinds of necessary support and showing healthy role models, they should set the foundation for for the formation of self-confidence and resilience in students. It should be noted that due to the nature of the current research (correlation), one should be very cautious in inferring the causal relationships between the variables of personality traits, social support, self-efficacy, resilience and academic performance.