Predicting student ' s academic achievement according to their self-efficacy beliefs, socio-economic status, and academic disciplines in students

Social-cognitive theories on motivation and academic achievement emphasize the interactive effects of Personal and contextual variables on the students' academic achievement. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the predictive role of self- efficacy and socio-economic status as two important personal and contextual variables on student ' s academic achievement. 500 stuents were selected from among humanities and mathematics females students from Tehran high Schools. Subscales measuring, self- efficacy in the Motivational Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) were used (Pintrich & De Groot;1994). Parents' Job, income and education were considered as indices of socio-economic status of students. The average of students' grade in five specific courses at the end of academic year was considered as index of student's academic achievement. Data was analyzed using confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses, cronbach's alpha coefficient and hierarchical regression analysis. Results indicated that students' self-efficacy and discipline has a significant effect on predicting Student's academic achievement. Father's job and education and mothers' education could not predict the student's academic achievement. Mother's job significantly predicted student's academic achievement.