Psychosocial factors and academic performance among first-year financial aid students : testing adjustment as a mediator variable

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-135).Students eligible to receive need-based financial aid represent a group of students that are of particular concern for universities in post-apartheid South Africa. The academic success of these students is a concern considering the high failure and attrition rates among these students, which represents a huge waste of financial resources for universities. There is however a paucity of literature on the determinants of academic performance among these students. The present study attempted to address the gap in the existing literature by investigating the effect of various psychosocial factors on the academic performance of first-year university students, who were the recipients of need-based financial aid at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The main aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that adjustment mediates the relationship between students' help-seeking behaviours, academic motivation, self-esteem, perceived stress and academic overload, and their academic performance. This hypothesis has not been tested previously. The sample for the present study consisted of 194 of the 465 students considered eligible to participate in the Student Development Programme at UCT. All of these students received need-based financial aid from the university. The sample for the present study consisted of participants between 17 and 28 years (M=19 years) who were mostly 'black' African participants and who mainly spoke an African language as their first language. Path analysis was utilised to test the hypotheses. The results show that adjustment did not function as a pure mediator. It was found that adjustment mediated some of the effects of the psychosocial factors on academic performance. Academic performance was best explained by the direct and mediated effects of the psychosocial factors. Intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, self-esteem and perceived stress were significant predictors of adjustment. Only extrinsic regulation and academic overload were significant predictors of academic performance. Further analyses revealed that the proposed model, including adjustment as a mediator variable, was more appropriate in explaining academic performance among male students than among female students. Gender differences in the effect of introjected regulation, self-esteem and perceived stress on adjustment were found. Only motivation was a significant predictor of academic performance among female students. Adjustment, academic overload and self-esteem were significant predictors of academic performance among male students. Further analyses were conducted to explore the effects of the individual SACQ sub-scales on academic performance. Academic adjustment had a significant positive impact on academic performance whereas social adjustment had a significant negative impact on academic performance