Confidence Makes the Difference: The Role of Academic Self-Efficacy in the Optimism-Achievement Relationship

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the relationship between dispositional optimism and academic achievement among university students, with a specific focus on the explanatory role of academic self-efficacy. Method: A group of 250 students of the University took the Life Orientation Test-revised (LOT-R) to check the dispositional optimism, Academic Self-efficacy subscale of Motivated Strategies of Learning (MSLQ) to check academic self-efficacy and self-reported Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) as a measure of academic performance. Hayes PROCESS macro (Model 4) with 5,000 bootstrap resamples was used to perform a mediation analysis. Results: Dispositional optimism was positively related with academic self-efficacy (r = .45, p <.01) and CGPA (r =.32, p<.01). CGPA was found to be positively related to academic self-efficacy (r = .51, p < .01). Academic self-efficacy mediates the indirect effect of dispositional optimism on CGPA with significant impact (B = 0.023, BootSE = 0.005, 95% CI [0.014, 0.034]) being significant. Direct impact of optimism on CGPA was still important following academic self-efficacy (c′ = 0.011, p =.031) and this tends to indicate that although a considerable part of the impact of optimism is attributed to the contribution of academic self-efficacy, there are other ways in which optimism impacts academic achievement. Conclusion: The findings reveal that academic self-efficacy is an important element in the manner in which dispositional optimism is transformed into academic achievement. To foster student achievement, the university educators and student support services should find interventions that would foster both optimistic dispositions as well as academic confidence.