structural equation modeling of the learning self-efficacy, exam self-efficacy, and university attrition

Self-efficacy refers to one's belief in one's ability to plan and carry out necessary actions to achieve a particular outcome (bandura, 1997). to find out the predictive power of two types of efficacies, learning self-efficacy and exam self-efficacy in the attrition of the freshmen, a cohort of 648 first year university students majoring english language were selected based on random sampling to complete specific academic learning self-efficacy scale (sal-se) and specific academic exam self-efficacy scale (sae-se) (nielsen et al., 2017) questionnaires. the structural equation modeling (sem) (x^2⁄df= .035; rmsea=.040; rmr =.01; gfi = .95; agfi =.78; nfi =.70; cfi =.79; ifi =.80; tli=.89), revealed that sal-se, sae-se, age, and prior priority could predict freshmen attrition and their withdrawal. the results also confirmed that the degree of the attrition of the males strongly was predicted with asl-se and sae-se as they imposed their effect on the persistence to continue. concerning the age, the younger the participants, the more degree of attrition was found among the cohort indicating either the hope of the younger to be accepted either in a more reputed university or another major field was higher than the elder students at the time of commence. the priority of preferences a prior to the acceptance to the field also was among the significant latent predictor of the attrition that associated more with females rather than males. the results also documented the exam self-efficacy as a strong predictor to attrition. the low levels of academic exam self-efficacy in students during their first year at university were associated with different combinations of achievement predictors including an increased risk of attrition. the results are promising, since self-efficacy is observed as context specific and flexible, thus offering an opportunity for teachers, instructors, and other educational professionals to encourage students’ self-efficacy to achieve higher learning outcomes and diminish attrition.