Academic Resilience and Psychosocial Support as Correlates of Mathematics Performance among Form Two Students in Nakuru County, Kenya
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Date
2025-10
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
Mathematics is a fundamental discipline whose scientific, technological, economic and national development cannot be underestimated. Despite its central participation in development, globally and particularly in Kenya, mathematics performance has been on the decline. Case in point, over the past five years (2018-2022), Njoro Sub-County has raised alarm due to poor performance declining over the years. Poor mathematics performance is a great setback to students’ academic performance and the development of the country at large, and by extension, a barrier to the success of Vision 2030. Further, literature on the said target group on academic resilience and psychosocial support on learning outcomes has been scarce. Against these, the current study sought to establish the relationship between academic resilience and psychosocial support with mathematics performance. Additionally, the study sought to examine if both variables varied significantly by gender. Lastly, the predictive weight of academic resilience and psychosocial support on mathematics performance was assessed. This study was guided by the positive psychology theory (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) and Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory. A correlational research design was implemented where 3359 (1769 girls) form two students from 52 public secondary schools in Njoro sub-county, Nakuru County in 2023 were targeted. A sample of was obtained from ten public secondary schools. Purposive, stratified random sampling, and simple random sampling were used in the sample selection. Data collection was done using an adapted 30-item Academic Resilience Scale for academic resilience by (Cassidy 2016) and the 22-item Psychosocial Support Scale for psychosocial support by Padhy et al. (2022). Mathematics performance was measured using form two end-of-year 2023 examination results. A pilot study was conducted on 30 form two students randomly selected to ascertain the reliability and validity of the research instruments. A significant positive relationship between both academic resilience, r (380) = .27 p < .01, and psychosocial support, r (380) = .12, p < .05, with mathematics performance was established. Independent samples t-test, however, showed that there were no significant gender differences in both academic resilience (t (380) = -0.63, p > .05) and psychosocial support (t (380) = -0.48, p > .05). Lastly, multiple regression analyses showed that academic resilience and psychosocial support significantly predicted mathematics performance, F (2, 279) = 15.34, p < .001, accounting for 8% of variance in mathematics performance. Academic resilience (β = .27, p < .001) was however the better predictor of mathematics performance as compared to psychosocial support (β = .01, p > .05). It was thus concluded that the provision of psychosocial support and better academic resilience structures among students is linked to better mathematics performance. Findings from this may be of use to students’ self -regulation in the face of challenges by strengthening support structures. The findings are important to teachers, school counselors, parents, and students, as they provide evidence-based strategies for improving mathematics performance and overall academic performance.