Journal of Research in Educational Systems

Abstract Objective: Today, high-level education, achieving professional and career goals in the daily life cycle of many people are considered natural. In the meantime, academic adjustment as one of the general dimensions of psychosocial adjustment has always been of interest to researchers in the field of education, so this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the mediating role of academic self-efficacy in the relationship between self-worth and self-criticism with students' academic adjustment. Method: The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population included second and third year students of the Faculty of Science of Yazd University who were studying in the academic year 1402-1403 and consisted of 800 students. To select a sample from the aforementioned population, 300 students were selected using the convenience sampling method. All students responded to the Self-Esteem Resources Scale (Crocker, et al., 2003), the Self-Criticism Levels Scale (Thampson & Zuroff, 2004), the Student University Adjustment Questionnaire (Baker & Siryk, 1984), and the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (McIlroy & Bunting, 2001). Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling. Results: The results showed that the direct relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic adjustment (0.675), self-esteem with academic self-efficacy (0.548), and self-criticism with academic self-efficacy (-0.77) was significant (p<0.05). Also, based on the Sobel test, since the test statistics were higher than 1.96 (p<0.001), the indirect relationship between self-esteem and academic adjustment through self-efficacy and the indirect relationship between self-criticism and academic adjustment through self-efficacy were significant. Conclusions: According to the results of the research, educational packages based on academic adaptation can be used to improve self-criticism, self-esteem, and academic self-efficacy in students.