Mediating Role of Self-efficacy Beliefs in Relationship of Family Emotional Climate and Time Management with Academic Stress among University Students

Background: The minds of students experiencing academic stress fail to quickly analyze the mass of information they are exposed to, resulting in irreparable physical and mental damage. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship of family emotional climate and time management with academic stress in university students. Methods: The study was a correlational-descriptive performed by path analysis. The statistical population in this study consisted of all male and female students of Islamic Azad University of Ahvaz in the academic year 2019-2020, of whom 222 students were selected as the sample through the convenience sampling method. The research instruments included the Educational Stress Scale, the Family Emotional Climate Questionnaire, the Time Management Scale, and the Self-efficacy Scale. The proposed model was evaluated by structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: The results revealed a significant relationship between family emotional climate and academic stress (β=-0.57, P=0.001), family emotional climate and self-efficacy beliefs (β=0.27, P=0.001), time management and self-efficacy beliefs (β=0.23, P=0.001), and self-efficacy beliefs and academic stress (β=-0.15, P=0.007). However, no significant relationship was found between time management and academic stress. The results also indicated that self-efficacy beliefs could significantly mediate the indirect relationship between family emotional climate and academic stress (P=0.016) and also the relationship between time management and academic stress (P=0.017). Conclusions: Since the study findings confirmed the proposed model’s goodness of fit, this model can be employed to effectively identify the factors causing academic stress among university students.