Analyzing multiple relationships between psychological, social, and family factors and the academic success of female high school students in Isfahan

• Main Authors: Saeideh Mahzoonien, Zahra Yousefi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2017-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Educational and Psychological Researches
• Subjects: Academic achievement; attachment styles; body image; family relationships; self-esteem; teacher-student relationships
• Online Access: http://www.ijeprjournal.org/article.asp?issn=2395-2296;year=2017;volume=3;issue=1;spage=21;epage=28;aulast=Mahzoonien
• ISSN: 2395-2296; 2395-2296

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate relationships between psychological factors (self-esteem, attachment styles, and body image), family factors (family relationships), social factors (teacher-student relationship), and the academic achievement of female high school students in Isfahan. Methods: The study was descriptive and correlational. For sampling, 210 female high school students from all female high schoolers in Isfahan with an average age of 16 were selected through cluster sampling. Research instruments were questionnaires of self-esteem, attachment style, body image, and family relationship and a researcher-made scale of the teacher-student relationship. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Analyzing the results of the study that was done through step-wise multiple regression analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between insecure maternal attachment style, body image, kinds of teacher-student relationships, and academic achievement; and from among these variables, body image had the ability of predicting academic achievement. Other predictor variables were not significantly related to academic achievement Therefore, it could be concluded that changes in insecure maternal attachment style, body image, and teacher-student relationships were associated with the changes of the academic achievement. Conclusion: There was not any significant relationship between self-esteem and the students′ academic achievement. Insecure maternal attachment styles, from among different styles, had a negative significant relationship with academic achievement. It means that increasing insecure maternal attachment style causes decreasing the students′ academic achievement. The negative and significant relationship between negative body image and academic achievement means that increasing the negative body image causes decreasing academic achievement. In this research, no significant relationship between family and academic achievement was observed. By taking different kinds of significant teacher-student relationships into consideration, changing teacher-students relationships in adolescence period is more important than other variables related to academic achievement.