RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACADEMIC RESILIENCE AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN PHYSICS IN AWKA EDUCATION ZONE, ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between academic resilience and academic achievement 
among secondary school students in Physics in Awka Education Zone of Anambra State. The 
research was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses which were tested at 0.05 
level of significance. Correlation research design was adopted for the study. The population of the 
study comprised 2532 secondary school two (SS 2) students offering Physics from 62 public 
secondary schools in the Zone. Multi-stage sampling procedures was used to draw 345 sample 
size from the population. The instruments used for data collection included; Physics Resilience 
Questionnaire (PRQ) and average scores of students for 2024/2025 academic session. The 
instrument PRQ was validated by three experts, two from the Department of Science Education 
and one from Educational Foundations (Measurement and Evaluation unit), all in Nnamdi Azikiwe 
University, Awka. The reliability of the instruments were established using Cronbach's alpha, with 
coefficients of 0.79 for PRQ, indicating satisfactory internal consistency. The data collected were 
analyzed with Pearson Product-Moment Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression analysis, 
using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 25). The findings of the study showed 
that there is a weak positive relationship between academic resilience and academic achievement 
among SS2 students offering Physics. The study further showed a weak positive significant 
relationship between academic resilience and academic achievement among male students while 
it showed a moderate positive significant relationship between academic resilience and academic 
achievement among female students. Based on the findings, the study concluded that students who 
demonstrate higher levels of academic resilience tend to perform better academically, but the 
influence of resilience on achievement is relatively low. Furthermore, academic resilience 
contributes more significantly to the academic achievement of female Physics students than male 
students. The study recommended amongst others that schools should design interventions such 
as mentorship, peer-support groups and problem-solving activities that strengthen students’ ability 
to cope with challenges in Physics learning.