Factors influencing students’ success: A generalized estimating equations study

The goals of this study were to determine the factors influencing children’s success according to Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) through the Family Report Form (FRF; constituted by the authors), Teacher’s Report Form (TRF; Achenbach, 1991b) and Child Behavior Check List (CBCL; Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983), and to form a new and actual reference success form for Turkish children. The study sample included 4130 primary school children in Eskisehir, Turkey. School success was measured as the total scores that students achieved in the following classes: cultural, social, science, foreign language, computer, picture, music and job-occupation. The TRF, CBCL and FRF forms consist of the sum of subtests, which includes 9 factor scales, namely anxiety/depression, somatic complaints, social withdrawal, delinquent behavior, social problems, thought problems, attention deficits, aggressive behavior, and other. As the statistical analyses, GEE method, stepwise regression analysis and missing value analyses were used. The items that had the greatest negative effect on the students’ success were “has poor school work” and “can’t concentrate or can’t pay attention for long”. On the other hand, the item that had the greatest positive effect on students’ success was “feels he/she has to be perfect”. It may be recommended that students, their families, and teachers should be informed about factors influencing school success.