SELF-EFFICACY, ACHIEVING TENDENCY, LOCUS-OF-CONTROL AND COPING STYLES AS PREDICTORS OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF NURSING STUDENTS ENROLLED IN BACCALAUREATE AND ASSOCIATE DEGREE NURSING PROGRAMS.
Contributors: Georgia State University.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 271
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate personality (noncognitive) variables as predictors of academic performance that could be used in addition to cognitive predictors.

Methods and Procedures. This study was a descriptive correlational study. A non-probability sample (N = 146), taken from five nursing programs in Georgia and one in Alabama, was utilized.

The noncognitive variables examined in this study included coping styles as measured by the Behavioral Attributes of Psychosocial Competence Scale (BAPC) Tyler, 1978); self-efficacy as measured by the Self-efficacy Scale (Sherer et al, 1982); locus of control as measured by Levenson's (1981) multidimensional Locus of Control Scale which differentiates between internality, powerful others, and chance; and achieving tendency as measured by Mehrabian's (1968) Achieving Tendency Scale.

Academic achievement was measured by the student's cumulative grade point average (GPA), and was inclusive of grades received in all nursing, science, and liberal arts courses. Verbal and math scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) were used as cognitive predictors.

Results. Internal locus of control correlated positively with GPA. Social self-efficacy and powerful others locus of control correlated negatively with GPA. In addition to various demographic variables, internal locus of control and general self-efficacy were statistically significant in predicting academic performance for all nursing students. When students were considered according to race, the significance of the noncognitive variables in predicting academic performance decreased. Low scores on measures of social self-efficacy were statistically significant in predicting academic performance for black students. The noncognitive variables examined in this study were not significant in predicting academic performance for white students.

Conclusions. Noncognitive variables, collectively, bear no configurative relationship to measures of academic performance. When considered separately, internal locus of control, powerful others, social self-efficacy and achieving tendency were found to be predictors of academic performance. The noncognitive variables significantly differentiated between the younger and older students, baccalaureate and associate degree students, and black and white students in baccalaureate and associate degree programs.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-07, Section: B, page: 2837.

Thesis (PH.D.)--GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY, 1986.

School code: 0079.