TPC-Journal-V1-Issue2

104 The Professional Counselor \ Volume 1, Issue 2 Perceived Social Support e 5.69 1.04 1 7 1 7 Significant Other Support e 5.83 1.14 1 7 1 7 Family Support e 5.41 1.48 1 7 1 7 Friend Support e 5.67 1.03 1 7 1 7 a Lower scores indicate low self-efficacy. b Lower scores indicate less reported anxiety. c Lower scores indicate perceiving statistics as less useful. d Lower scores indicate negative attitude. e Lower scores indicate less support. There was a statistically significant relationship between self-efficacy to learn statistics and statistics anxiety, attitude towards statistics, and social support: F (3, 162) = 60.489, p < .001. Amoderate effect size was noted with 52.8% of the variance accounted for in the model, R 2 = .528. Statistics anxiety and attitude towards statistics were statistically significant predictors of self-efficacy to learn statistics and accounted for 3% and 7% of the variance, respectively. Social support was not a statistically significant predictor of self-efficacy to learn statistics and accounted for .1% of the variance. When social support was removed from the analysis, there was no change in statistical or practical significance. Discussion This study sought to explore the relationships of graduate students’ self-efficacy to learn statistics, statistical anxiety, attitudes towards statistics, and social support. The scores from the various instruments identifying each of the aforementioned variables produced both negative and positive correlations among each other. A statistically significant relationship was found among self-efficacy and statistical anxiety, attitudes towards statistics and social support indicating the importance of the graduate students’ belief in their competence of facing the challenges of learning statistics. However, there was no change in the relationship when social support was removed from the analysis; thus, it was not a contributing variable. Statistics self-efficacy scores from participants indicated moderate responses which mirrored the prior studies involving undergraduate students (Pajares, 1996; Zimmerman, 2000). As this was the first study that investigated graduate students, these results create a path for future research. There was a negative correlation between self-efficacy to learn statistics and statistical anxiety of the graduate students. The negative correlation is consistent with Onwuegbuzie’s (2000) findings. Participants reported the lowest responses in the Fear of Asking for Help and Worth of Statistics subscales, signaling graduate students reluctance for asking for assistance from the professor and peers as well as a low belief in the applicability and purpose of statistics. Overall, these results and the negative correlation between self-efficacy and anxiety seem to depict a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy that graduate students assume when faced with taking statistics which is similar to Perney and Ravid’s (1991) report. A positive correlation was found between self-efficacy to learn statistics and attitudes towards statistics. This results indicated that the better the attitude of the graduate students towards statistics, the higher self-efficacy beliefs to learn the subject. Results indicated a more moderate response to attitudes not found in other studies where students were coming in with a negative attitude or were developing negative attitudes towards the end of the course (Gal & Gingsburg, 1994). It may be considered that graduate students in this study were neutral in their attitudes towards learning statistics without extreme reactions. Participants reported a high level of social support, which indicates that most of the graduate students believed they had adequate support. The sample perceived social support as an influential factor in their lives, which is similar to most college student population reports (Solberg & Villarreal, 1997). However, social support was not a statistically significant predictor of self-efficacy to learn statistics. Also, when this variable was removed from the multiple regression analysis, there was no statistical or practical change in the regression. The insignificant result implies that social support was present for students, but it did not interact as a buffer between variables and possibly decrease anxiety or increase positive attitudes as indicated by Bonilla (1997), Cohen and McKay (1984), and Solberg and Villarreal (1997). Thus, social support may possibly help one cope but not necessarily remove the problem, change attitudes, or change thinking.