The reciprocal relationship between mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics performance in US high school students: Instrumental variables estimates and gender differences

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the reciprocal relationship between high school students’ academic self-efficacy and achievement in mathematics using US data from the HSLS:2009 and first follow-up longitudinal surveys, while accounting for biases in effect estimates due to unobserved heterogeneity.MethodsInstrumental Variables (IV) regressions were estimated, to derive causal effect estimates of earlier math self-efficacy on later math achievement and vice versa. Particular attention was paid to testing the validity of instruments used. Models were estimated separately by gender, to uncover gender differences in effects.ResultsEvidence of robust reciprocal effects between self-efficacy and achievement for male students is presented, with the dominant effect from earlier achievement to later self-efficacy. For girls, evidence of such effects is weak. Generally, IV estimates are higher than OLS estimates for males, but not for females. As opposed to earlier correlational studies which did not find significant gender differences despite theoretical expectations for their existence, the findings support higher effects for male students.

The role of students' mathematics perception and self‐efficacy toward their mathematics achievement

“…Female students are seen to have higher self‐efficacy when compared with male students. The finding of an interventional study conducted by Sakellariou (2022) revealed that girls report lower mathematics self‐efficacy than boys, while actual performance in mathematics does not differ significantly between genders.…”

“…Bandura also described self‐efficacy as beliefs about one's capabilities to learn or perform behaviors at the expected levels (Yesuf et al, 2023). The social cognitive theory developed by Albert Bandura is the most prominent learning theory, and self‐efficacy is an important component of the theory (Sakellariou, 2022; Yesuf et al, 2023). People's judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action are required to attain designated types of performances.…”

“…The alarming rate of low math academic self‐efficacy (Sakellariou, 2022), perception, and eventual low achievement constitute a great concern to parents, teachers, examination bodies, counselors, and psychologists (Rodríguez et al, 2020). Indeed, it represents a great wastage on the part of students, parents, and the government.…”

“…The theoretical frameworks used in this article focused more on discussions of social cognitive theory by Bandura (Roslan & Maat, 2019; Schöber et al, 2018), self‐efficacy theory by Bandura, and Schunk (Silver et al, 2001), and others related to the study under investigation. Most of the studies used in this article observed the students' mathematics self‐efficacy theory based on the students' mathematics perception and self‐efficacy combining them with mathematics achievement (Appiah et al, 2022; Sakellariou, 2022; Yesuf et al, 2023).…”

“…The students' level of self‐efficacy can influences their mathematical problem‐solving ability (Sakellariou, 2022; Simamora et al, 2019; Zakariya, 2022). So, the students' self‐efficacy should be taken seriously by the teacher.…”