Effect of Academic Self-efficacy and Self-esteem on Students’ Academic Achievement in Low-income Families in Pakistan

Abstract

Although Pakistan is facing critical challenges in ensuring the education of school children; however, children from disadvantaged and low-income families are particularly at risk. Along with improvements in the education system, past research has suggested using students' psychological factors to tackle the challenges like high dropout. Academic self-efficacy and self-esteem are two important psychological factors in this regard. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of students' academic self-efficacy and self-esteem on their academic achievement in low-income families in Pakistan. The study is quantitative, the survey method was sued and data was collected from elementary school students enrolled in public schools and low-cost private schools. Regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The study found a significant positive effect of both -academic self-efficacy and self-esteem on students' achievement. Implications of the study were discussed.