Female Academic Self-Efficacy and Academic Achievement

This paper investigates the relationship between self-efficacy and academic achievement among 300 girl students in second year of high schooling. The students are majoring in math-physics and in human sciences in the 6th educational district of Tehrn. The research instrument used was MJSES Scale. This scale contains three components: talent, context, and effort. The mean score obtained in verbal (literature, Persian syntax, and conjugation) and mathematics (geometry, math, and statistics) tests was also used as a measure of academic achievement. The results showed that in both groups, the academic self-efficacy could predict academic achievement. The results of step-wise regression indicate that the Effort Component is a more powerful predictor of the academic achievement than the Aptitude and Context. Furthermore, analysis of variance on all variables: academic self-efficacy, effort, aptitude and context components, and academic achievement showed that the two groups are significantly different in academic self-efficacy, academic achievement and aptitude component, but no significant difference in effort and context components were observed. These results imply that if the academic selfefficacy of a student increases and if the context of school and home provides the best for the student, their academic achievement, and the probability of selecting the math-physics field will also increase.