Academic self-efficacy and college achievement: Similarities and differences as a function of family educational background and age

This study addresses the following question: Do college students of different ages and with different family histories of college attendance differ in their academic self-efficacy and achievement within the same college environment and across college environment (2 year versus 4 year)? Two-way analyses of variance were performed on survey data collected from 166 college students to identify relationships among student age, generation level, academic self-efficacy and college achievement as indexed by GPA. While significant differences among different ages were expected to emerge, as well as differences among generation level, statistical differences were negligible. Discussion focuses on implications and questions for future research.