Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

The School of Social Work

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Racism, ethnic exclusion, and colonial legacies remain rooted in the social, political, economic, and educational systems of both the United States and Ghana. Although there are two different contexts manifesting, race-based systemic oppression in the U.S. and the geographical marginalization in Ghana, share a common colonial foundation that continues to shape educational structures and the psychological development of ethnic and ethnic-racial minority students. With this information, it is critical to promote the inclusion of ethnic-racial and ethnic minorities in research to support the development of culturally responsive measurements, educational instruction, and interventions. Therefore, applying Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, Social Cognitive Theory, and Intersectional Theory, the present study reveals educational disadvantages in Ghana and the U.S. that are not explained by a single factor, such as poverty of geographical location, but by the cumulative effect of systemic and identity-based inequalities that shape how students experience belonging and recognition, and confidence in their academic abilities (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991; Bandura, 1986, 1997). As such, the present study investigates the ecological, identity-based, and psychological factors that shape academic self-efficacy among N=304 Ghanaian high school students in Ghana, while exploring the factor structure of the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES) for this sample. Exploratory Factor Analysis is used to assess the psychometric properties of the ASES with the consideration of contextual data that highlight how regional, cultural, linguistic, and historical factors interact to influence student beliefs about their abilities to master academic tasks. Findings indicate that despite the ASES's structural weaknesses, the ASES and the SEI were positively and significantly correlated, providing evidence of convergent validity. Though the internal structure of the ASES is unstable in a sample of N=304 rural Northern Ghanaian high school students, the results of convergence with the SEI confirm that the belief construct of self-efficacy remains behaviorally meaningful. These results further underscore the need for culturally grounded measurement tools that can capture how structural and linguistic inequities shape students’ beliefs and engagement in school.

 

Date

1-19-2026

Committee Chair

Wilks, Scott E.

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