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Self-Efficacy, Stress, and Academic Success in College

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Abstract

This paper investigates the joint effects of academic self-efficacy and stress on the academic performance of 107 nontraditional, largely immigrant and minority, college freshmen at a large urban commuter institution. We developed a survey instrument to measure the level of academic self-efficacy and perceived stress associated with 27 college-related tasks. Both scales have high reliability, and they are moderately negatively correlated. We estimated structural equation models to assess the relative importance of stress and self-efficacy in predicting three academic performance outcomes: first-year college GPA, the number of accumulated credits, and college retention after the first year. The results suggest that academic self-efficacy is a more robust and consistent predictor than stress of academic success.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fifth-Year Graduate Student, Office of Population Research and Department of Sociology, Princeton University, USA

    Anna Zajacova

  2. Assistant Professor of Sociology and Faculty Associate, Office of Population Research, Princeton University, USA

    Scott M. Lynch

  3. Professor of Sociology and Faculty Associate, Office of Population Research, Princeton University, USA

    Thomas J. Espenshade

  4. Office of Population Research, Princeton University, 249 Wallace Hall, 08544-2091, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Thomas J. Espenshade

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  1. Anna Zajacova
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  2. Scott M. Lynch
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  3. Thomas J. Espenshade
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Correspondence to Thomas J. Espenshade.

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Zajacova, A., Lynch, S.M. & Espenshade, T.J. Self-Efficacy, Stress, and Academic Success in College. Res High Educ 46, 677–706 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-004-4139-z

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