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Academic buoyancy and academic outcomes: Towards a further understanding of students with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), students without ADHD , and academic buoyancy itself
Author(s) -
Martin Andrew J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/bjep.12007
Subject(s) - psychology , academic achievement , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , intrapersonal communication , personality , developmental psychology , multivariate analysis of variance , path analysis (statistics) , clinical psychology , social psychology , interpersonal communication , statistics , mathematics , machine learning , computer science
Background Academic buoyancy is students' capacity to successfully overcome setback and challenge that is typical of the ordinary course of everyday academic life. It may represent an important factor on the psycho‐educational landscape assisting students who experience difficulties in school and schoolwork. Aims This study investigated the role of academic buoyancy in the achievement and cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement of (1) students with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) and (2) ‘regular’ (or ‘general’) students residing in the same classrooms and schools. The study also sought to extend prior research into academic buoyancy by including previously neglected and potentially influential factors such as personality and socio‐economic status. Sample Participants were n = 87 high school students with ADHD , n = 3374 non‐ ADHD peers, and n = 87 randomly drawn non‐ ADHD students. Method Survey‐based data were analysed using multigroup ( ADHD , non‐ ADHD , randomly weighted non‐ ADHD ) multivariate (multiple independent/covariate and dependent variables) path analysis. Results The findings revealed a significant and positive association between academic buoyancy and outcomes for students with ADHD that generalized to non‐ ADHD groups. On occasion where academic buoyancy effects differed between the groups, effects favoured students with ADHD . Furthermore, academic buoyancy explained significant variance in outcomes for both groups of students after covariates (age, gender, parent education, language background, socio‐economic status, personality) were entered. Conclusion It is concluded that there is merit in widely promoting and fostering academic buoyancy among ADHD and non‐ ADHD students alike – and that academic buoyancy explains variance in outcomes beyond major intrapersonal factors such as personality, socio‐economic status, ethnicity, and the like.