La’ah Deborah K. J.
Abstract
This study examined psychological morbidity and adjustment as correlates of academic self-efficacy of university students in Plateau state, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Correlation research design was adopted. The sample of this study was 365 students drawn from the entire population of eight thousand eight hundred and fifty-five (8,855) 300level students in the four universities in the state. Questionnaire titled Relationships among Psychological Morbidity and Adjustment as correlates of Academic Self-efficacy of University Students was used to collect information from the respondents. The instrument was validated by three experts in the field of Psychology and Measurement and Evaluation from FCE, Zaria. Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC r) was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of this study revealed that anxiety (r = – 0.575, p = 0.001), depression (r = – 0.469, p = 0.003) and distress (r = – 0.623, p = 0.000) exert negative relationship with academic self-efficacy. It was recommended, among others, that psychologists and counsellors should be encouraged to use various counselling techniques in managing students with anxiety, depression and distress issues as it affects their academic self-efficacy.