Understanding Academic Resilience during Adolescence: Gender and School Admission Pathways in Indonesia

Academic resilience is a critical construct that reflects students’ ability to adapt, persist, and succeed despite academic challenges. The type of school admission plays an essential role in understanding academic resilience, as it reflects not only students’ academic readiness but also the equity and opportunity structures within the education system. This study aimed to examine the distribution of academic resilience among Indonesian students by considering demographic variables such as gender and school admission types (achievement-based admission, affirmative-based admission, and school zoning). A total of 6,855 students from eleven provinces in Indonesia participated in the study. The psychometric properties of the Academic Resilience Scale were analyzed using the Rasch model, including item difficulty and person ability estimates. Independent t-tests revealed no statistically significant differences in academic resilience between male and female students. A one-way ANOVA was also performed to assess differences across school admission categories, with results indicating a statistically significant variance in resilience levels. These findings highlight the need for targeted educational interventions and policy adjustments to ensure equitable support mechanisms that foster resilience among students from diverse admission backgrounds.