Relationships between risk factors, protective factors and achievement outcomes in academic resilience research: A meta-analytic review

Academic resilience describes the capability to bounce back from adverse circumstances and maintain positive psychological and academic well-being in school. Several prior studies have identified different risk factors that may cause academic setbacks, as well as protective factors that may mitigate the effects of such risk factors and promote academic resilience. Although academic resilience studies have increasingly reported the correlations between these various risk factors, protective factors, and measures of academic achievement, no published review has previously summarized the relative strength of these relationships. This meta-analysis of correlational evidence identified major risk and protective factors reported in the extant academic resilience literature. It also estimated the magnitude and direction of their relationships with academic achievement outcomes. A total of 56 studies and 239 effect sizes were included in the review. The aggregated correlations of relationships between risk, protective factors and achievement outcomes were small but statistically significant. The aggregated correlations of risk and protective factors and academic achievement were r = −0.16 and r = 0.16, respectively. The correlations between achievement and specific family, individual, and societal-related risk factors were significant and higher than the aggregate. Similarly, the correlations of achievement and specific ability, belief, and institutional protective factor variables were statistically significant. Implications of these relationships for future academic resilience studies are discussed. •Meta-analysis examined mean correlations between resilience factors and achievement.•The meta-analytic review included 239 independent studies across 56 articles.•The resilience factors had small but significant mean correlations with achievement.•Some risk and protective factors had stronger correlations with achievement.