Psychological Capital Components And Association Of Students Academic Achievement In Secondary Schools In Anambra State

Academic achievement is the hub around which teaching and learning revolve and should be the target of every student enrolled on any academic programme. Without determination coupled with matched personal resources, students could feel encumbered and end up not achieving maximally in their studies as required. This study, therefore, examined psychological capital components and their association with students' academic achievement in Anambra State. Two research questions and one null hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 20,156 senior secondary class 2 (SS2) students from 261 public secondary schools in Anambra State. The sample of the study consisted of 1,008 SS 2 students, estimated at 5% of the total population drawn through a multi-stage sampling procedure. A set of instrumenttitled Psychological Capital Scale (PSC) adapted from the work of Luthans et al (2007) was used for the study in conjunction with students' mean achievement scores of 2019/2020 third term result. Reliability of PSC was determined using Cronbach Alpha method and an alpha coefficient of 0.73 was obtained. The data were analyzed using Correlation and Regression statistical analysis. The results indicated that there is a positive and significant relationship between psychological capital components and academic achievement of secondary school students in Anambra State. There is a joint contribution of psychological capital componentsto the academic achievement of secondary school students in Anambra State. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that teachers should devise various strategies for motivating students, discouraging all forms of unhealthy competitions in the classroom and also focus on building the students' strengths instead of focusing on and punishing their weaknesses; to foster a positive psychological state in them.