D. Divya and S. Sasikala
University of Madras, India
Pages:132-141
Education plays a vital role during the adolescent phase and Indians believe this
determines their future lifestyle and status in society. Those who fail to attain or
achieve in academics are called underachievers, leading to many psychological and
behavioral problems. With this idea, the researcher aimed to find out the relationship
between academic resilience, academic motivation, and academic performance of
school students. Further, the study intended to identify the impact of psychological skills
training on academic resilience, academic motivation, and academic performance of
underachievers. Moreover, this study consists of two phases – phase 1 survey was done
using a convenient sampling method with 143 adolescents studying in 9th standard. In
phase 2, a quasi-experimental pre-post without control design was used. The purposive
sampling method was used to select the underachievers studying in the 9th standard.
In both phases the following tools were used – Academic Resilience Scale, Academic
Motivation Scale, and Standard Progressive Matrices. Pearson’s product correlation
revealed that academic resilience, academic motivation, and academic performance
are positively related to each other. Further, paired sample t-test analysis revealed that
psychological skills training improved academic resilience, academic motivation, and
academic performance among underachievers..
Keywords: underachievers, academic resilience, academic motivation, academic
performance, psychological skills training