Psychosocial factors influencing the academic performance of students at a rural college in the Covid-19 era

—This study explored the psychosocial factors influencing students' academic performance in a rural college. It employed a quantitative approach through descriptive design. Questionnaires were used as data collection tools. One hundred and fifteen respondents were conveniently and purposively sampled from a rural college. The study used descriptive statistics to determine frequency and percentages to analyse quantitative data. The findings revealed that psychological and social factors could influence the students' academic performance in a rural college. This recommends that postsecondary institutions: TVET colleges and other higher education institutions should develop programs and create student support systems that can help enhance academic performance, course completion and manage psychosocial factors.


I. INTRODUCTION
HE growth of research in psychosocial factors significantly impacts students' academic outcomes, achievement, and performance at the college, locally and globally.These psychosocial factors combine the effects of psychological elements and integrate social conditions into the students' physical and emotional wellbeing and ability to perform academically (Naz et al., 2020).Kolo, Jaafar, and Ahmad (2017) found that attitude and social interaction could significantly predict student's academic performance.It has been posited that psychosocial factors influence the achievement of college students enrolled in developmental coursework (Fong et al., 2016).These psychosocial factors interfere with the students' ability to function generally in college-related activities (Kraak, 2016).Research indicates that these factors could critically predict the students' success and goals achievement (Hako & Shikongo, 2019).This study identified that students' academic performance at a rural college revealed poor performance, dropout rate, lack concentration, and lecture attendance due to psychosocial factors.These psychosocial challenges include emotional, anti-social behaviours, and interpersonal factors displayed by students at a rural college.Therefore, the impact of psychosocial factors on academic performance is still an issue in the history of rural colleges.This raised concern about psychosocial factors' contribution to students' academic performance.

Psychosocial factors
The findings of numerous studies on psychosocial factors identified that psychosocial problems occur in a wide variety of settings and often hurt students' psychological health and academic performance (Kraak, 2016;Kolo et al., 2017;Buthelezi, 2018;Badenhorst & Radile, 2018).
According to Hako and Shikongo (2019), every student suffers from psychological and social difficulties, not because of physical challenges but due to human nature, characterised by limited capability, expectations, and interpretations of prevailing situations.Similarly, Li, Allen, and Casillas (2017) indicated that academic alienation and psychological and social factors have been found to impact the students' performance outcomes negatively.Consequently, Ratanasiripong, 2020 found that college students are generally prone to major academic and personal stressors due to life transition, the intensity of academic workload, learning experience, and financial pressure.Gaffoor and Van der Bijl (2019) further showed that since the National Certificate Vocational (NCV) programme inception in 2007 at the TVET colleges, the NCV programme had experienced low levels of programme completion and high failure rates, which revealed that psychosocial factors, among others, influenced the academic performance of students.These psychosocial factors will lead to risky behaviours that will likely affect their academic performance (Gang, Khan & Bansa, 2019).Therefore, in the TVET sector, rural college students might face numerous psychosocial factors that could impede their academic performance.

Psychological factors
It is important to note that psychological factors might involve emotional and relational aspects.Psychological factors may influence and predict students' academic performance and future career success (Gang et al., 2019).In most cases, psychological factors like stress, poor concentration, low self-esteem, and lack of self-efficacy correlate with low academic performance, causing students in higher education institutions to fail (Rajkumal et al., 2015).It is also worth noting that stress is inevitable in student life, affecting most students' physical health, emotional wellbeing, and academic performance.However, elevated stress levels among students can result in decreased performance in academic accomplishments and can affect the physical and mental health of students.It is noted that stress correlates with symptoms of depression and anxiety, increasing dropout rates and causing academic performance problems (Mihailescu et al., 2016).
Furthermore, Bernal-Morales, Rodríguez-Landa, and Pulido-Criollo (2015) note that chronic and acute psychological stressors significantly predict poor academic performance among students.Bernal-Morales et al. (2015) indicated that anxiety is an adaptive response generated by environmentally stressful situations that activate alarm mechanisms in the individual to ensure survival.This suggests that every human being experiences anxiety.In the rural college context, Aafreen, Priya, and Gayathri (2018) indicate that it is essential to remember that mental constitution or coping capacities vary from one student to another.Therefore, students with poor coping capacities become prone to stress, anxiety, depression, and fear of academic failure.Anxiety hurts learning and achievement because the anxiety caused in the educational environment tends to be context-specific and affects performance, causing deterioration in the students' academic performance (Wright, 2011).Ajmal and Ahmad (2019) revealed that high anxiety levels influence students' decreased working memory and reasoning.Therefore, this anxiety aspect is adaptive and negatively affects academic performance (Majali, 2020).
The students' motivation to study is an essential psychological and pedagogical problem in critical thinking among students at colleges and other tertiary educational institutions (Aprielivia, 2021).Motivation is one of the most critical issues in education that can significantly support the efficiency of the educational process (Hattie, 2012).It is considered that cognitive and motivational factors interact and participate in the quality of students' learning and performance (Malaspina, 2018).However, Dişlen (2013) argued that college students are less motivated and have poor academic performance due to boring lessons and complex tasks without detailed explanations from the lecturers.It has been found that students' motivation is one factor that affects their performance.In addition, Naz et al. (2020) showed that, in general, motivation for academic performance had been associated with several environmental and educational factors.Various studies report that psychological factors correlate with academic performance and create tension and anxiety that may lead to mental health problems (Rajkumar et al., 2015;Kraak, 2016;Kolo et al., 2017;Buthelezi, 2018).

Social factors
The influence of psychosocial factors on college student academic performance can determine how the student strikes a balance between stressful academic responsibilities and social activities (Hako & Shikongo, 2019).Abigail and Okonkwo (2013) note that the rural situation presents unique challenges to students' academic performance and career decision-making processes in a rural college, leading to poor academic performance.Therefore, social factors have opened the need for further education in many regions of TVET.The most prevalent argument is that the socioeconomic status of students affects the quality of their academic performance.Previous studies and reviews indicate that students from low socioeconomic status families are likelier to exhibit low literacy, numeracy, and comprehension levels than students from high socioeconomic status families.Akessa and Dhufera's (2015) study revealed that low socioeconomic status negatively affects students' academic performance.Low socioeconomic status prevents access to vital resources and creates additional stress for students.The non-availability of some critical resources needed for practical work impedes effective learning and academic performance (Badenhorst & Radile, 2018).Olufemi, Adediran, and Oyediran (2018) further revealed that unexplained absence among students tends to be higher among students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds and is closely related to poor educational performance.Therefore, the influence of socioeconomic status may result in many students not achieving their postsecondary educational goals or benefiting at optimal levels from the college experience, leading to a waste of human talent and potential.Gulzar et al. (2010) found a significant positive relationship between teacher-student interaction and academic performance.These confirm that interaction in rural colleges is a reciprocal process.However, if there are no communication processes where students exchange information about the course content and socio-emotional information, it may result in poor academic performance.Badenhorst and Radile (2018) indicate that academic performance, effective teaching, and learning depend on the interaction and relationship between lecturer and students.The interaction of lecturers with students is considered an essential social factor in improving students' academic performance.It is noted that good interaction between lecturers and students may overcome difficulties and eliminate negative influences on academic performance (Wu & Xin, 2019).Gang et al. (2019) indicated that besides the primary factors mentioned above, rural students might also face other problems, such as the school distance from home, lack of school facilities, and poor standard of living, which may reduce students' interest to go to college and to complete their registered programmes.Psychosocial factors by the students and significant others involved in teaching and learning may influence and threaten students' academic performance at a rural college (Hako & Shikongo, 2019).These support a study by Kolo et al. (2017) that a student's performance constitutes the product of socioeconomic, psychological, and environmental factors.It is not surprising that Mushtaq and Khan (2012) indicate that academic performance is affected by social, psychological, economic, environmental, and personal factors.Various psychosocial factors influencing rural college students' academic performance were identified.The abovementioned factors show that psychosocial factors by the students and significant others involved in teaching and learning may influence and threaten students' academic performance at a rural college (Hako & Shikongo, 2019).Various psychosocial factors influencing students' academic performance have been studied and identified.Therefore, there is a need to re-evaluate these factors at rural colleges to suit the current situations and needs of students at a rural college.

II. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
This study aims to determine the psychosocial factors that affected the students' academic performance in the Covid-19 era at a rural college in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.The research question was: What psychosocial factors influenced the students' academic performance in the Covid-19 era at a rural college in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa?

Research approach
This study adopted a quantitative approach through descriptive design to arrive at a richer and more complete description covering psychosocial factors investigation at a rural college.This approach helps to answer the research questions and objectives of the study.In the present study, this approach allowed for statistical inferences, which were used to conclude the study population based on the sample data.Therefore, the researcher considered this method appropriate for data gathering on the psychosocial factors influencing students' academic performance in a rural college.

Respondents
The study population consisted of all students registered at the TVET rural college in Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.However, this study targeted 200 students recorded in NCV level 3 programme for the 2020/21 academic year.Hako and Shikongo (2019) indicated that sampling takes a portion of the whole population to represent that population, while a sample is a selected small collection of units that closely represents features of interest in a more extensive collection of cases called population.Respondents were chosen non-randomly based on population characteristics and the study's objective.This was beneficial for this study and helped find people willing to provide helpful information.Thus, a hundred and fifteen (N=115) respondents constitute the study's sample size, which includes nineteen males (n=19) and ninety-six females (n=96).All respondents were IsiZulu speakers aged 18 to 45 years old.They voluntarily answered the questionnaire and signed the consent forms.

Research setting
The study was conducted at a rural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college.Its mission was to provide vocational, occupational, and Artisan education and training (Rajkumal et al., 2015).This TVET prepares students for a specific job, employment possibilities, or self-employment.It helps to improve the understanding of student development and its impact on students' academic performance and physical, emotional, and mental health.This college also strives for the involvement of college students academically and socially to improve students` academic success.However, these college students struggle to learn new skills and knowledge for competence and psychosocial development.Therefore, this study explored the psychosocial factors influencing students' academic performance at this rural college.

Data collection method
The data were collected using questionnaires in this study to determine the psychosocial factors influencing students' academic performance at a rural college.According to Othman et al. (2020), a questionnaire is relatively inexpensive to administer.It can be selfadministered and used to survey a large group of people simultaneously, distributed by mail or hand.The developed questionnaire consisted of short and simple sentences in line with respondents' level of knowledge.Respondents were required to respond to the statements related to students' psychosocial knowledge.This study used the Likert scale: Strongly Disagree (SD), Neither Disagree Nor Agree (NDA), Agree (A), and Strongly Agree (SA).The questionnaire involves six items that measure the psychological factors affecting the academic performance of students (e.g., I have been consistently depressed or down most of the day, nearly every day, during my registered term with the college, I have felt anxiety or panic when I am in class).Six items dealt with social factors that affect the students' academic performance (e.g., I am content with the current state of my life, Financial security is critical, and It is difficult for me to meet Assessment deadlines).Its consistency coefficient was acceptable at .89.

Data analysis
This study utilised descriptive statistics through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, Version 25) to analyse data collected during the quantitative phase presented as numeric facts or data in either tables or graphics (Roopa & Rani, 2017).The study used the frequencies and percentages to explain the data indicating psychological and social factors affect students' academic performance at a rural college and to establish if there were possible connections between the independent variable and dependent variable.The data frequency was recognised and explained based on the above statements, categories related to the relationship between academic performance and psychosocial factors.Percentages were also used to determine the influence of psychosocial factors on students' academic performance.The results of the analysis were presented in tables.Descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and percentages, were performed to present a sample demographic profile of respondents.

Procedures
The researcher obtained permission to conduct the research from the college management, signed by the Rector.After that, 115 students were recruited from the rural college to participate in this study.The researcher called respondents into a lecture hall to explain the study's objectives, and questionnaires were distributed to them for completion.The researcher collected the quantitative data over three weeks.During this phase, the researcher distributed a notice around the campus and during the morning briefings, requesting all registered students in the level 3 NCV programme to participate in the study.The respondents responded to the request or an announcement posted on the campus notice boards or during morning briefings.During the students' free time, the researcher gathered all respondents in a hall, explained the purpose of the research, and gave all respondents informed consent forms.The consent form contained an option to complete an anonymous survey.Respondents who agreed to participate were asked to complete the survey.The final sample population comprised 115 respondents with a 100% survey completion rate.Questionnaires were given to respondents to complete over three weeks.The duration's rationale was to give the respondents enough time to complete the survey questions at their convenience.However, only 115 questionnaires were returned and analysed.

Ethical considerations
Ethical clearance from the University of the Free State was also granted to conduct this study.Approval was obtained from the rural college to conduct the study.The researcher ensured that respondents' dignity, rights, and safety were observed in this study.Confidentiality and anonymity were strictly considered.The researcher ensured these would be maintained throughout the study to protect individuals from public exposure.Before administering questionnaires to students, the researcher explained to respondents the purpose of the study so that they may have adequate information regarding the study.Respondents were free to withdraw their respondents whenever they felt uncomfortable at any stage of the data collection process.Respondents were required to complete the consent forms to show their approval of participating in the study.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The results generated from exploring psychosocial factors that influenced students' academic performance guided this study to form an initial understanding of the influence of psychosocial factors in a rural college.

Psychological factors
Responses show that psychological factors affected the students' academic performance at a rural college.The majority of respondents, 37 (32.2%), agreed that they had been consistently depressed or down most of the day, nearly every day, during their registered term at the rural college, and 3 (2.6%)respondents strongly agreed with this statement.The descriptive result showed that 40 (34.8%)respondents disagreed that they had felt anxiety or panic when they were in class at the rural college, whereas 5 (4.3%) respondents agreed that they had felt anxiety or panic when they were in class at the rural college.39 (33.9%) respondents strongly disagreed that they had experienced or witnessed, or had to deal with a highly traumatic event that included actual or threatened death or serious injury to them or someone at the rural college, whereas 10 (8.7%) respondents strongly agreed that they had experienced or witnessed or had to deal with a highly traumatic event that included actual or threatened death or serious injury to them or someone at the rural college.The result shows that 5 (4.3%) respondents strongly agreed that they had experienced abuse (physical, sexual, verbal) or neglect, whereas 45 (39.1%) strongly disagreed that they had experienced abuse (physical, sexual, verbal) or neglect.
Descriptive results further indicated that 23 (20%) respondents strongly disagreed that they had difficulty sitting still or paying attention, got easily distracted, and found themselves daydreaming or "spacing off".However, 11 (9.6%) respondents strongly agreed with the above statement; students felt that stress distracted them from learning and eventually hampered their academic success.The result finally showed that 35 (30.4%) respondents agreed they feel fearful or embarrassed about being watched, the focus of attention, and afraid of being humiliated at the rural college.However, 13 (11.3%)respondents disagreed nor agreed that they felt fearful or embarrassed about being watched, the focus of attention, or afraid of being humiliated.These results are presented in the

Social factors
The descriptive result showed that 52 (45.2%) respondents agreed that they were content with the current state of their life at the rural college.Whereas 11 (9.6%) disagreed or agreed with this statement.55 (47.8%) respondents strongly agreed that financial security was necessary at a rural college.However, only 1 (0.9%) respondents disagreed that financial security was critical.The result showed that 37 (32.2%)respondents agreed that meeting assessment deadlines at a rural college were demanding, whereas 11 (9.6%) respondents strongly agreed that it was challenging to meet assessment deadlines.49 (42.6%)respondents agreed that their commitment to studies was very high at the rural college.In contrast, only 5 (4.3%) respondents strongly disagreed that their commitment to studies is very high.56 (48.7%) respondents strongly agreed, and 3 (2.6%)respondents strongly disagreed that they willingly respected all the college rules.42 (36.5%)students said they always attended classes at a rural college on time.Nonetheless, 3 (2.6%)respondents strongly disagreed that they always attended classes on time.These results indicate social factors in students' academic performance at a rural college.The six social influence statements that respondents made a choice and decided on in the current study are presented below: Table 3: Social factors influence students' academic performance

V. DISCUSSION
This study found psychological and social factors as the main psychosocial factors influencing students' academic performance at a rural college.Singh, Darwish, and Potocnik (2016) indicated that when there is more involvement in both academic and social aspects of the college experience, psychological factors can play a decisive role in influencing the students' academic performance.The present study sought to explore the psychological factors that may affect the academic performance of rural college students in many ways.Successively, the study found significant psychological reasons for the poor academic performance of rural college students.Looking across psychological factors such as stress that correlate with symptoms of depression and anxiety, as demonstrated by the present findings, should not be ignored (Ratanasiripong, 2020).These factors must be addressed to help students understand whether support services should be engaged.These findings extend the existing literature on psychological factors influencing students' academic performance.In addition, these would shed light on when to seek help when psychological factors influence students' academic performance.As shown in previous studies (Rajkumal et al., 2015;Aprielivia, 2021;Dişlen, 2013), this study found that poor concentration, fear of academic failure, and motivational factors significantly contribute to students' academic performance and completion of their registered programmes.These results further suggest that these psychological factors could influence students' academic performance.Hence, in this study, most students regarded a relationship between psychological factors and academic performance as challenging.
Previous studies indicate many social factors influence students' academic performance (Hako & Shikongo, 2019).However, this study found social factors, like financial aid, the Covid-19 pandemic and student-lecturer interaction, college and home environment as social factors that influence students' academic performance.Respondents called for financial aid or student loan schemes to be developed.The statistical result indicated that most respondents strongly agreed that financial security was necessary.
Furthermore, Li et al. (2017) indicated that low-income students may be more likely to lack intellectual materials at home and are influenced by the home environment, with higher levels of parental mental stress and less guidance in education and career.However, college is typically more academically demanding, which could be one reason college and the home environment are more important for students' academic performance at a rural college.Consequently, this study found that students' minds could not concentrate due to other pressing problems like home/rental environment and inadequate funding from poor socioeconomic circumstances.Therefore, the home environment and inadequate funding disturb students' academic concentration and performance.Chiguvi and Ndoma (2015) noted that the lack of students' residences influenced students' growth, behaviours, and academic performance.Hence, the respondent revealed that students at a rural college are constantly under pressure because they are unsure where to get money for food and transport to college the next day.It is, therefore, not surprising that Nnamani, Dikko, and Kinta (2014) note that students from a home environment where they do not know the source of the following funding do generally not perform well academically.
The findings reported that the Covid 19 pandemic could influence the students' performance, and its protocols created attendance changes and communication barriers between the students and lecturers.This confirms that the COVID-19 pandemic was history's largest disruption to education.It had profoundly transformed society, often exacerbating social and economic inequalities.It is noted that governments worldwide have moved to suspend face-to-face teaching in schools, affecting most student populations (Engzell, Frey & Verhagen, 2021).The teaching platforms and methods made available for students were declared by respondents as dissatisfying and affected the students' academic performance.The results further revealed that the Covid-19 pandemic considerably impacted student-lecturer interaction because students did not have physical interaction with lecturers.
On the other hand, Fan (2012) found a significant positive relationship between teacher-student interaction and academic performance.Moreover, Olufemi et al. (2018) state that the influence on academic performance varies from one academic environment to another, from one set of students to the next, and from one cultural setting to another.However, in this study's context, factors like student funding, the Covid-19 pandemic, and student-lecturer interaction were social factors that influenced academic performance in this study.These findings are consistent with other studies that revealed how social factors are linked to poor academic outcomes (Ramírez-Granizo et al., 2019).In addition, Aafreen et al. (2018) indicate a strong association between academic performance and students' economic status and their families.Therefore, this study demonstrated a relationship between social factors and the students' academic performance at a rural college.

VI. CONCLUSION
Students are affected by different psychosocial factors that influence their academic performance at a rural college.The evidence from this study indicates that psychosocial factors negatively impact students' academic performance in a rural college.These correspond with Mushtaq et al. (2012), stating that academic performance is affected by social, psychological, economic, environmental, and personal factors.The prominent factors were psychological and social factors that can enhance the understanding of the effects of stress, anxiety, depression, loss of concentration, lack of motivation, home environment, Covid-19 pandemic, lack of financial aid, and student-lecturer interaction on students' academic performance at a rural college.Despite the emphasis on the influences of psychological and social factors on students' academic performance at a rural college, the study also focused on identifying how these factors negatively influenced the students' academic performance.Therefore, recommendations are suggested to contribute to understanding psychosocial factors that influence the academic performance of rural college students.Rural colleges should promote mental health programmes to foster healthy living and behaviours among students.The early identification of at-risk students is a significant action to reduce potential failures and poor academic performance.This study recommended that students be dedicated to their academics and focus on their studies.The college should have programmes to help students boost their motivation and understand their concentration level.Once the students identify their psychosocial challenges, the college should strive to assist students and intervene to accommodate students from poor backgrounds.The study recommended that colleges should give appropriate attention to theoretical teaching and practical programmes to help students experience a college climate that encourages them to seek help to improve their academic and social skills.The study recommends workintegrated learning for students, exposing them to training and equipping them with the skills required to deal with psychosocial factors.
With the change brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic on teaching and learning, this study also recommends that the college and lecturers implement different teaching methods to improve academic performance and encourage success in students using different learning styles.This study suggests implementing information technologies in the educational process that will increase students' motivation to study and promote the formation of practical experience, self-development, self-knowledge, and self-assessment.The study recommends students look at their learning style to study creatively.This will contribute to a situation of success that will increase students' motivation to study to avoid poor academic performance.The study findings indicate high anxiety levels are responsible for poor academic performance.However, a healthy relationship between a lecturer and students could be helpful to minimise anxiety factors.The study recommends identifying and treating students with higher anxiety levels to enhance their academic performance.The rural college should promote programmes to evaluate factors influencing student-lecturer interaction and find ways to strengthen it.To alleviate psychosocial challenges at a rural college, the senior management, working with the lecturers and Students Support Office, should create platforms to address students' needs and concerns to prevent poor academic performance.In addition, if college support structures aim to improve students' academic performance, they should provide students with skills to enhance their abilities to cope with various psychosocial demands.

Table below :
Table 2: Psychological factors affect the students' academic performance

Table 2 : Psychological factors affect the students' academic performance Table 3: Social factors influence students' academic performance
I have been consistently depressed or down most of the day, nearly every day, during my registered term with the college., witnessed, or had to deal with a highly traumatic event that included actual or threatened death or serious injury to me or someone.