ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent psycho-social variables correlate with academic task persistence among low-achievers in mathematics senior secondary schools students in Imo State.  Seven research questions were posed and seven null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a correlational research design. A total of 936 SS II students drawn from the entire population of 9,360 SS2 students of 2022/2023 academic session in all the public secondary schools in Imo State through multistage sampling techniques made up the sample for the study. Two instruments titled “Psycho-Social Variables Questionnaire (PSVQ)” and “Mathematics Task Persistence Questionnaire (MTPQ)” were developed by the researcher and were used for data collection. These instruments were subjected to face validation by three experts: two from the Department of Psychology and Counselling and one expert from the Measurement and Evaluation; all from Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The stability of the instruments computed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Co-efficient and reliability indices of 0.82 and 0.72 were obtained for PSVQ and MTPQ respectively. The internal consistency of PSVQ and MTPQ was determined using Cronbach’s Alpha method and estimates of 0.85 and 0.85 were obtained for PSVQ and MTPQ respectively. The data obtained through the administration of the two instruments were analyzed using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (Pearson’s r R² coefficient of determination) to answer the research questions, while linear and multiple regression analyses were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed that joint psycho-social variables (self-efficacy, parental influence, motivation, teachers’ influence, anxiety and peers’ influence) significantly correlated with academic task persistence among low-achievers in mathematics. The joint psycho-social variables (self-efficacy, parental influence, motivation, teachers’ influence, anxiety and peers’ influence) had a very high percentage contribution of 99.8% in level of academic task persistence among low-achievers in mathematics. However, self-efficacy had the highest percentage contribution of 70.9%; followed by parental influence with 66.1%; teachers’ influence with 65.6%; motivation with 59.4%, peers’ influence with 50.6% and lastly anxiety which negatively predicted 32.9% of the level of academic task persistence among low-achievers in mathematics in Imo State. Among the educational implications was that the study could provide supportive frameworks from which one can assess how the students explore the environment and master the challenges within their environment since academic task persistence could depend on psycho-social variables within the environment of the students. It was thus recommended that parents or guardians should educate their children on the importance of psycho-social variables in academic task persistence.