Ethnic Differences in Self-Efficacy at Southern Adventist University

Valid concern has been expressed about the poor academic performance of African American students, in comparison to their other ethnic counterparts. The literature has attempted to explain this anomaly. A large portion of the studies show how socioeconomic standing and parental involvement play a role in this achievement gap. A more modest smattering used psychological factors to explain the deplorable academic achievement in African Americans. One such psychological factor, self-efficacy, was not well represented in the literature; few papers discussed the association of self-efficacy and African American academic success. The purpose of this study was to describe self-efficacy levels of individuals of different ethnic groups. The study was non-experimental and used a survey methodology as a means to collect data. A 14-question survey was created, with questions that ascertained self-efficacy, ethnicity, gender, age, class standing, academic discipline, and perceived academic success. The sample of convenience consisted of 394 students from Southern Adventist University. Results showed that there were no significant differences in self-efficacy among differing ethnic groups, academic disciplines, or along the spectrum of age. Results also found a statistically significance gender difference in self-efficacy, with males toting higher scores, and a positive correlation between GPA and self-efficacy. This research can further elucidate how different sexes and ethnic groups believe in their capabilities and this can be extrapolated to academia to answer the question of achievement gaps