Socioeconomic Status as a Predictor of the Academic Achievement of Engineering Students in Taiz State, Yemen

Abstract

Serious concerns have been raised over the consistent academic underperformance of Yemeni students at almost all levels of university studies. This paper investigates the impact of various socioeconomic factors on the academic performance of engineering students in Taiz State, Yemen, an impoverished and unstable society. Our quantitative methodology employed a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire and targeted 596 female/male students from three engineering colleges in Taiz State. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and simple and multiple regression models to examine the impact of socioeconomic variables on academic achievement while moderating financial condition and gender. This study measured academic achievement through GPAs, student attendance, and English level. Many socioeconomic influences have been examined against academic performance, such as gender, family income, family stability, family openness, marital status, co-education, part-time jobs, and stimulant use. The results accurately specified that students’ gender considerably impacts the studied variables; moreover, low-income features of families negatively affect students’ academic performance. The outcome of this study indicated that socioeconomic variables matched well with GPA, attendance rate, and English level, but with higher matching to the attendance rate. This study highlights that university students in impoverished and unstable societies, like Yemen, are significantly affected by socioeconomic factors. It recommends coordinated efforts among government authorities, educational institutions, and community leaders to mitigate the negative impact on academic achievement and implement appropriate technologies to enhance performance. Additionally, conducting similar studies in other disciplines and communities within the country is recommended for a deeper understanding of this issue.

1. Introduction

At all times, the economic and social life of individuals is an essential criterion that determines their living activities and education level. Education serves as the basis for the progress of nations and societies and is an effective tool for poverty reduction [1,2]. The relationship between education, societal development, and a nation’s economy represents a closed triangle in that each variable is affected by the other in all directions. In this regard, it is stated that the development of countries is eventually evaluated by paying attention to the education quality system, which is the cornerstone of a nation’s economic and social development [3,4].

There are tightened relationships between education quality and a nation’s economic development; developing and poor countries adopt inadequate budgets for education development, which intensively influences education quality. Similarly, low-income students lose their motivation toward education and therefore score low marks. Accordingly, living standards in societies unambiguously affect the academic achievement of both school and college students. The high rates of college student dropouts can be mainly attributed to social, economic, and physiological problems, especially in poor societies and unstable countries [5]. As a result, rich and developed countries pay regular stipends to their school and college students to completely overcome their possible economic and social obstacles [6,7]. The problem intensifies in poor and developing countries where families strive to afford the essential requirements of food, housing, and medicine and cannot afford school and college financial expenses [8,9]. Furthermore, poorer societies are associated with higher fertility rates, which result in large family sizes and low incomes per capita [10].

For decades, higher education in Yemen has suffered from poor infrastructure and a lack of budget and specialized teaching staff. Recently, the higher education system in Yemen has experienced a catastrophic disruption due to the ongoing civil war. Specifically, education in the country was divided into two independent systems due to the political division created by the war [11]. In many public universities, the salaries of the teaching staff were cut, and the operating budgets were also suspended; as a result, most of the academic staff and teachers left the country to look for better opportunities. Many populated cities have been targeted by the war and possess damaged transportation systems, and many families are now unable to register their children in universities. Many students joined the warring parties and left education, or their university academic performance was significantly affected. Undoubtedly, the war’s consequences negatively impacted Yemeni families’ social and financial status. Despite the abovementioned bad situations, Yemeni universities are still crowded, with thousands of students pursuing their undergraduate studies, and a deep investigation into their academic performance under these catastrophic conditions is required [9].

This study evaluates the impact of various socioeconomic factors, including financial condition, family stability, and social habits, on the academic performance of engineering students in Yemen. The engineering field was chosen because of the heavy coursework, technical demands, and the need for consistent attendance, which place higher academic expectations on these students than those in other disciplines [10]. Accordingly, conducting this study on engineering students provides a suitable context for exploring the effects of socioeconomic issues on the academic performance of Yemeni students at both public and private universities.

2. Literature Review

This section explores the socioeconomic variables that affect the academic performance of university students from diverse cultural, economic, and religious backgrounds worldwide. The aim is to identify the similarities and differences between these study environments and the current research. Academic performance is a critical subject in the education system which is affected by many internal and external influences [1,3]. External variables are concerned with society’s development and family stability outside educational institutions. These critical variables are difficult to measure and evaluate [12,13]. The psychological situations of individuals, their financial incomes, family stability, and sociocultural norms are crucial factors in determining the academic performance of students [5,14]. Students require motivation and encouragement from their society to enhance their academic attainments [1,3]. Family motivation of students is at the heart of these responsibilities [15]. In a recent study, socioeconomic factors promptly influenced the quality of distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic [16]. Furthermore, the financial incentives offered by governments to school and college students in developed countries motivate students to pay more attention to their studies [1]. Identical studies inferred that a student’s academic attainment is directly proportional to their family income, family savings, family size, and parents’ education level [2,15,17,18,19]. The economic development of a country creates lots of new jobs, which pushes students to be creative and productive in their studies [3,5]. On the other hand, internal variables, including the university environment, teachers’ behavior, and the facilities provided by colleges have been documented as critical factors for boosting students’ academic performance [1]. The impact of internal variables on a student’s scientific success has been extensively discussed and is outside the scope of this article.

Recent research has shown that the financial status of university students, including tuition fees, accommodation costs, and living expenses, negatively affects academic performance [20,21,22,23]. Students participate in part-time jobs to support themselves and balance work responsibilities and academic achievement, leading to lower grades [20,21,24]. Moreover, students from low-income backgrounds may face additional challenges, such as a lack of access to resources and limited opportunities for extracurricular activities [23,24,25]. Frequent studies suggest that governments should assign a quota for low-socioeconomic-status families, people with disabilities, and isolated areas [26].

There is a clear connection between academic achievement and a nation’s socioeconomic status [27,28,29,30]. A review of the literature reveals that factors such as social, economic, personal, demographic, and educational environments all promote the reshaping of students’ academic performance [31,32]. These factors have undergone significant changes in the Yemeni environment post-war, potentially affecting students’ outcomes. In particular, the instability in Yemen has led to university dropout rates increasing, diminished students’ motivation to study, and reduced both the quality of education and job opportunities [10]. The ongoing war has also severely damaged the financial and social stability of Yemeni families while hindering any update to educational institutions’ infrastructure [11]. Together with the unique cultural context of conservative Yemeni society, these factors make studying this issue both compelling and challenging.

One critical socioeconomic factor specific to Yemeni society is the habit of chewing khat [33]. Khat is a stimulant plant widely cultivated in Yemen, and Yemeni people, especially men, spend long hours daily chewing its leaves, believing that it gives them energy and motivation [34]. It drastically affects the financial status of individuals and families [35]. Dozens of studies have shown direct disastrous health impacts on its chewers [33,36,37]. Students, particularly men, believe that chewing khat helps them memorize their studies easily and revise their lessons effectively [37]. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, no research study has investigated the effect of chewing khat on the academic performance of university students.

3. Problem Statement

Serious concerns have been raised over the consistent academic underperformance of Yemeni students at almost all levels of university studies. During the last decade, Yemen has continuously experienced a civil war that led to a prime change in the population demographic that caused a population displacement from the war-affected states. Simultaneously, an economic collapse and a sharp decline in family income are primary consequences of political instability; socioeconomic variables set in front of these influences directly affect education performance. Accordingly, in-depth studies regarding the impact of socioeconomic variables of Yemeni society on higher education are essential.

Globally, much research work has emphasized the fundamental impact of the family economy and sociocultural norms on university students’ performance. Correspondingly, many studies have investigated the influence of socioeconomic background on the academic achievement of undergraduate students in Arabic and Islamic communities [38,39,40,41,42]. However, the economic and, to some extent, social conditions of these countries are completely incomparable to those in Yemen. Furthermore, no similar studies in Yemen have been undertaken to highlight the effects of socioeconomic influences on education quality. In other words, studies that examined university students’ social, economic, and psychological status in an environment similar to the current situation in Yemen are not reported in the literature. Yemenis are currently experiencing a civil war that has lasted for about a decade, leading to economic collapse, political instability, and disintegrating society. The economic situation of the Yemeni family exceeds the poverty line, according to identical UN reports, while education has become a secondary concern for families. Parents’ priorities are now directed toward the basic requirements of life, including food, medicine, and housing; many families are unable to bear the costs of education for their children.

Many studies have focused on bridging the gap between rich and poor families [2,26]. However, this study examines the academic achievement of low-income and unstable engineering college students. It intends to focus on how Yemeni students struggle to continue their education and the most crucial barriers to their academic achievements in such inferior conditions. A series of questionnaires, meetings, and university data will systematically be analyzed to investigate this problem from different angles.

4. Research Design and Methodology

The research design employed a cross-sectional survey that targeted engineering students from three Universities in Taiz State, Yemen. Focusing on engineering students to study socioeconomic effects on their academic achievement is a good choice because they are exposed to more academic pressures than others [6,10]. In particular, engineering curricula are composed of heavy courses that require continuous lecture attendance and in which it is difficult to score high GPAs; this segment choice could make the correlation between the variables higher and statistically significant.

The following dependent and independent variables were investigated in this study as socioeconomic influences against academic performance. These socioeconomic influences included, but were not limited to, family income, family stability, family openness, marital status, co-education, part-time jobs, gender discrimination, and stimulant use. Measuring students’ academic performance through the GPA is often insufficient. In this study, we used three measures, namely GPA, attendance rate, and English level, for measuring students’ academic performance. The effect of financial, social, and socioeconomic variables on these three measures was evaluated. Since socioeconomic elements like income, stability, and social habits are closely related to our research goals, questions were carefully designed to support the research hypothesis. Many questions were selected exclusively for female engineering students, covering topics such as bullying, sexual harassment, marriage consequences, and many other issues corresponding to females. Again, many questions regarding the financial expenses of students and families in Yemen and earning resources were addressed. Social habits such as chewing khat and smoking were clearly specified for males and females.

4.1. Socioeconomic Variables

Socioeconomic variables are a set of determinants that are essential for the survival, activity, and well-being of individuals in a society [1,3]. It is hard to directly measure the social norms and financial status of university students’ families in Yemen. This is because Yemeni society is a conservative Muslim community that adheres to Islamic rules. As such, the present research survey implemented indirect questions to the students to measure the social measures and economic situations of their families. To determine the financial status of university students, they were asked a direct question about the average daily bucket money they spent on their daily transportation, study requirements, and a single meal (breakfast); based on their answers, their family financial status was classified. Furthermore, they were asked if they had laptops, since engineering students should have laptops for practical applications. A large proportion of families are unable to purchase personal laptops for their students. Again, students were asked if they had permanent, temporary, or online jobs during their studying period; students from low-income families struggle in full- and part-time jobs to endure university expenses and fees. These three questions provide a good reflection about the financial status of students and their families. The effect of these three variables on their academic achievement was statistically elucidated.

One more crucial factor is the socioeconomic stability of students during their studies. Stability during study includes the ability of a family to provide secure and continuous financial sources, sustainable housing, and an appropriate study environment. Therefore, a question was asked to the respondents about their financial and social stability and time dedicated to studying without hindrances.

Similarly, social habitus measurements in Yemeni conservative society are a challenging task. This is because conservative and religious communities believe that making statements about their social status is shameful behavior. Girls mostly dislike answering questions about marital status, sexual harassment, bullying, incivility, smoking, love stories, etc. Therefore, collecting data about students’ social status, especially females and families, is a complex process that requires asking answerable questions to students in Yemeni society. However, these questions were intelligently and carefully introduced to the engineering students in the questionnaire; the research team obtained accurate and coherent data on these topics and their impacts on students’ academic achievements.

Harsh economic conditions and frequent political crises have hindered Yemeni society’s integration with other societies outside the country. As such, it is difficult to classify Yemeni families on a scale from extremely conservative to extremely open, but the effect of this social factor on the academic achievement of university students is crucial. This study took many variable measures to evaluate this social variable. Female engineering students were asked if they freely shared their mobile numbers with others, put their photos on social media personal platforms, attended online video lectures, and covered their faces with “Niqab” outside their homes. Based on the responses to these questions, the research team could accurately classify the family openness measure and investigate its effect on academic achievement, sexual harassment, and bullying.

Chewing khat is a social, economic, and health dilemma of the Yemeni community, and studying its effect on university students is essential. As such, this study used two questions in the questionnaire to ask the students if they regularly chewed qat and about its effects on their academic achievement. Smoking among university students is another socioeconomic problem addressed in the present study. All in all, this study intends, for the first time, to address the perception of a wide variety of socioeconomic variables on the academic performance of Yemeni university students.

4.2. Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were constructed for this research:

H1: 

Female engineers demonstrate better academic achievement than males despite their low financial expenditure.

H2: 

Student stability positively impacts the academic achievement of engineering students.

H3: 

Low family income negatively affects the academic achievement of engineering students.

H4: 

Early marriage negatively affects the academic achievement of engineering students.

H5: 

Co-education has a negligible effect on the academic achievement of engineering students.

H6: 

Part-time jobs negatively impact the academic achievement of engineering students.

H7: 

Stimulants drastically influence the economic status of students and negatively affect academic achievement.

H8: 

Sexual harassment decreases female participation in engineering education.

4.3. Data Collection Method

Primary data were collected by conducting two online questionnaires for female and male engineering students at three engineering colleges in Taiz City, Yemen; one is public while the other two universities are private. Questionnaires were constructed using Google and carefully distributed online through social media tools. Secondary data collected from the targeted engineering colleges indicated that the study population comprised about 2500 students, both males and females. The response rate was high, reaching 613 responses, 17 of which were eliminated due to incomplete answers. As a result, the approved research sample for statistical analysis was 596 students (250 females and 346 males). Questions were designed according to a 5-point Likert scale and education experts were consulted during the design phase.

Questionnaires were prepared and distributed to the population (engineering students in Taiz City) during February and March 2023; the questionnaires targeted the three famous universities in Taiz City: Taiz University (public), Aljanad University (private), and Alsaeed University (private); the questionnaires were carefully distributed to only engineering students after obtaining official permission from the specified universities; and the responses were ordered based on university name and gender and then tabulated in

Table 1. Questionnaire response distribution based on university name and gender.

University Name	Sample Size		Total
	Male	Female	No.	Percentage
Taiz University	229	146	375	62.92%
Aljanad University	97	067	164	27.52%
Alsaeed University	020	037	057	09.56%
Total	346	250	596	100%

. In this regard, the number of responses was 346 males and 250 females, with a total of 596 participants; they were divided into three universities, Taiz University (62.92%), Aljanad University (27.52%), and Alsaeed University (9.56%), as reported in Table 1.

Table 2. Questionnaire response distribution based on engineering discipline and gender.

Department	Sample Size		Total
	Male	Female	No.	Percentage
Communication Engineering	16	6	22	03.69%
Interior Design	1	18	19	03.19%
Information Technology (IT)	130	107	237	39.76%
Information Security and Networking	50	41	91	15.27%
Industrial Engineering	40	10	50	08.39%
Mechatronics Engineering	56	08	64	10.74%
Software Engineering	43	60	103	17.28%
Civil Engineering	10	---	10	01.68%
Total	346	250	596	100%

records the questionnaire participants based on engineering specialization. Eight engineering disciplines were considered in the questionnaires, while other engineering specializations were excluded due to the limited number of participants. This variety of universities and disciplines could lead to reliable outcomes that reflect the socioeconomic situation of all Yemeni engineering students.

Table 3. Questionnaire response distribution based on the university level and gender.

University Level	Sample Size		Total
	Male	Female	No.	Percentage
First	43	57	100	16.78%
Second	66	47	113	18.96%
Third	106	59	165	27.68%
Fourth	50	51	101	16.95%
Fifth	31	17	48	08.05%
Fresh graduates	50	19	69	11.58%
Total	346	250	596	100%

reports the questionnaire respondents based on their study level. The distribution was uniform amongst all study levels and also fresh graduates.

4.4. Data Analysis

Statistical analysis was implemented to interpret the relationship between different variables related to the research topic. This analysis used a general linear model to determine the effects of independent variables on dependent variables (GPA and Attendance) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS 2023) software,. Pair comparisons using the least significant difference method were used to identify significantly different interactions of variables. In addition, the Keppel method (an effective technique reported in 1982) was used to recognize the significant influence of variables’ interactions on the dependent variables. Finally, the normality of the data was identified using the Shapiro–Wilk approach (1965), while the statistical significance was set at a confidence level of 95%.

5. Results

This section introduces the statistical analysis data, such as mean, standard deviation, and p-value indicators. It examines the inter-relation results of about 14 socioeconomic variables with the academic achievement of engineering students. Academic achievement was evaluated through GPAs, students’ attendance, and English level. After that, results examining the correlations between variables were also elucidated. Another specific analysis examines two-variable and three-variable interaction approaches as predictors for GPA and attendance, and the results are tabulated and analyzed; furthermore, several questions were directly asked of the respondents, and the corresponding data were exposed to descriptive analysis.

Table 4. Descriptive statistics of socioeconomic variables for academic achievement (GPA and attendance).

Variable	Statistical Data					GPA		Attendance
	Count (n)	Mean	Std	Min.	Max.	F	p-Value	F	p-Value
Gender	595	1.420	0.494	1.0	2.0	39.314	0.0001	2.077	0.15
Social Media Use	595	2.94	1.198	1.0	5.0	3.206	0.013	1.098	0.357
Study Level	595	3.034	1.347	1.0	5.0	4.849	0.001	2.204	0.067
Had a Laptop	595	1.68	0.467	1.0	2.0	17.891	0.0001	0.247	0.620
Had a Job	595	2.22	1.385	1.0	5.0	0.765	0.548	2.406	0.049
Financial Condition	595	2.055	0.875	1.0	5.0	8.528	0.0001	1.402	0.232
GPA	595	3.4	0.784	1.0	5.0	---	---	6.892	0.0001
Studying Stability	595	3.41	1.191	1.0	5.0	18.959	0.0001	6.110	0.0001
Attendance	595	4.523	0.853	1.0	5.0	2.790	0.0001	----	----
English Level	595	3.28	0.998	1.0	5.0	19.547	0.0001	4.450	0.002
Marital Status	595	1.445	1.013	1.0	5.0	5.867	0.001	0.198	0.898
Sexual Harassment	220	2.312	1.333	1.0	5.0	0.767	0.548	1.038	0.389
Family Openness	220	2.273	1.249	1.0	5.0	1.468	0.213	0.566	0.688
S-S Harassment #	220	1.72	1.033	1.0	5.0	3.288	0.012	0.465	0.761
T-S Harassment #	595	1.12	0.483	1.0	5.0	1.803	0.127	0.662	0.619
Chewing Khat	375	3.38	1.52	1.0	5.0	0.699	0.593	1.030	0.392
Smoking	375	1.46	1.01	1.0	5.0	0.599	0.664	3.205	0.013

^# “S-S harassment” stands for student–student harassment and “T-S harassment” stands for teacher–student harassment.

depicts the mean and standard deviation of the examined variables; their values depend on the maximum and minimum values of each variable; larger values of standard deviation indicate that the data spread out farther from the mean, and vice versa. The mean value of gender shows that the respondents were classified as 42% female and 58% male engineering students. In addition, the value of the mean for studying level at 3.034 indicates that the sample was well distributed amongst all study levels; the results of the mean value (1.68) suggest that two-thirds of the respondents had laptops. Additionally, the mean value of “had a job” is 2.22, indicating that 30% of the sample were in full- or part-time jobs.

Since engineering courses are tough and practical, lecture attendance is compulsory and a good indication of education performance. The mean of “student attendance” is 4.523, indicating extremely high attendance ratios. The academic performance of students appears to be associated with higher mean values in studying stability (3.41), GPA (3.4), and English level (3.28). The low mean value (2.055) for “financial conditions” indicates that most students were classified as low-income. The proportion of engineering students who got married before and during their undergraduate study is very low, while the ratio is much higher for females than males.

Furthermore, the results of Table 4 show that the main factors of gender (F = 39.314; p < 0.0001), social media use (F = 3.206; p < 0.013), study level (F = 4.849; p < 0.001), having a laptop (F = 17.891; p < 0.0001), financial condition (F = 8.528; p < 0.0001), studying stability (F = 18.959; p < 0.0001), attendance (F = 2.790; p < 0.0001), and English level (F = 19.547; p <0.0001) are significantly associated with GPA, where GPA was significantly higher for females (Mean, SD = 3.60, 0.700) than males (Mean, SD = 3.26, 0.811). In detail, GPA was significantly higher for students with lower social media use (Mean, SD = 3.45, 0.738), higher study level (Mean, SD = 3.5, 0.757), not having a laptop (Mean, SD = 3.5, 0.716), a below-average financial condition (Mean, SD = 3.56, 0.661), high studying stability (Mean, SD = 3.81, 0.637), high attendance rate (Mean, SD = 3.49, 0.744), and those who were fluent in the English language (Mean, SD = 4.09, 0.747).

Similarly, many other factors had a significant effect on students’ class attendance, including having a job (F = 2.406; p < 0.049), GPA (F = 6.892; p < 0.0001), studying stability (F = 6.11; p < 0.0001), and English level (F = 4.45; p < 0.002). To go deeper, students’ class attendance was significantly correlated with students who had no jobs (Mean, SD = 4.64, 0.829), who scored the highest GPA grades (Mean, SD = 4.74, 0.447), who had high studying stability (Mean, SD = 4.74, 0.532), and who were fluent in English (Mean, SD = 4.64, 0.819).

The analysis of correlation factors between variables is crucial for understanding the relationship between socioeconomic variables and academic achievement.

Table 5. Pearson correlation factors of socioeconomic variables.

No.	Variable	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
01	Gender	1.0
02	Social Media Use	−0.17 **	1.0
03	Study Level	−0.12 **	0.00	1.0
04	Had a Laptop	0.05	0.05	0.26 ***	1.0
05	Had a Job	−0.45 ***	0.10 *	0.07 *	−0.03	1.0
06	Financial Condition	−0.23 **	−0.01	0.16 **	0.16	0.08 *	1.0
07	GPA	0.21 **	−0.06	0.04	0.18	−0.13 **	0.05	1.0
08	Studying Stability	0.26 ***	−0.01	−0.04	0.23	−0.23 **	0.13	0.40	1.0
09	Attendance	0.15 **	−0.01	−0.14 **	0.01	−0.10 *	−0.11 **	0.14 **	0.22**	1.0
10	English Level	0.04	−0.03	−0.04	0.08	0.01	0.10 *	0.37 ***	0.22 **	0.11 **	1.0
11	Marital Status	0.13 **	0.03	0.16 **	0.03	−0.05	0.07 *	−0.11 **	−0.01	−0.05	−0.02	1.0
12	Sexual Harassment	--	0.02	−0.04	−0.02	0.06	0.03	0.06	−0.21 **	0.03	0.14 **	−0.03	1.0
13	Family Openness	--	−0.11 *	0.07 *	−0.07	0.13 **	0.05	0.06	0.12 **	0.06	0.18 **	0.11 **	−0.06	1.0
14	S-S Harassment	--	0.04	−0.02	0.02	0.32 ***	0.01	−0.08 *	−0.12 **	0.00	0.01	0.08 *	0.10 *	0.35 ***	1.0
15	T-S Harassment	−0.03	−0.03	0.01	−0.04	0.03	0.04	−0.05	−0.13 **	−0.02	0.01	0.02	0.10 *	0.18 **	0.15 **	1.0
16	Chewing Khat	−0.37 ***	0.10 *	0.18 **	0.08	0.02	0.34 ***	−0.03	−0.10 **	−0.13	−0.05	0.06	--	--	--	0.01	1.0
17	Smoking	−0.09 *	0.01	−0.02	−0.09	0.07 *	0.16 **	−0.01	−0.14 **	−0.17	−0.07 *	0.02	--	--	--	0.08 *	0.26 ***	1.0

Standard errors in parentheses; *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1.

yields precious and abundant findings in this regard. The correlation factors indicate that gender has a constant influence on the other variables. The correlation results of Table 5 show that females scored higher than males in terms of academic achievement, studying stability, attendance, English level, and marriage opportunities. Furthermore, female students showed lower levels of khat chewing, smoking, and social media use compared to male students. As expected, the outcomes showed that the students with personal laptops came from high-income families, and led to higher stability in studying, higher overall grades, and higher English levels.

Again, the results indicate that stability in studying shows a larger correlation with academic performance measures compared to other socioeconomic factors. The realistic results indicated that high-income students have more stability in their studies than low-income students; furthermore, students’ stability positively impacts their academic achievement, lecture attendance, and English level. Interesting results showed that students who chewed khat, practiced smoking, or got married earlier were less stable in their studies.

The social interaction results elucidated that sexual harassment drastically influenced female stability in studying but had a negligible effect on academic achievement and lecture attendance. In this regard, our research survey analysis findings show that social media use or family openness did not influence sexual harassment. Finally, employed female students were exposed to various types of sexual harassment and bullying more than unemployed females.

The results articulated that employed students had low GPAs, low English levels, and low stability in studying compared to unemployed students. Unexpectedly, employed students were shown to be low-income students. Furthermore, family openness increased job opportunities, while jobs negatively influenced academic achievement and lecture attendance.

It is a common belief in Yemen that students, especially men, chew khat as a natural stimulant to enhance memorization in their studies. However, this survey’s results indicated a negligible correlation between daily khat chewing and overall grades and English level. Also, the results of the correlation factor of chewing khat with lecture attendance and students’ stability showed a negative correlation. This is because the continuous chewing of khat affects the life of its chewers, causing them to miss lectures and reduced life stability. These findings correlate well with our hypothesis H7. Greater levels of chewing khat and smoking promptly increased the financial expenditure of students, especially men. Additionally, the number university students who chewed khat increased with the level of study, indicating that many students started university without chewing khat habits, and through interaction with their chewer friends they became regular chewers. Finally, chewing khat was strongly related to smoking habits.

The financial condition of students was not a real barrier to their academic performance; high-income engineering students showed no positive effect on their GPAs but it enhanced their English level and stability. In contrast, students with high financial expenses had low attendance rates. This inconsistency in interactions is an expected consequence of societal, political, and economic instability in Yemen, which prompts respondents to provide data that break the normality test.

The academic performance was also investigated using a simple effect technique. In this regard,

Table 6. Summary of the effects of socioeconomic two-variable interactions on attendance.

Variables	Sum of Square	df	Mean Square	F	p-Value
Gender * Study level	5.859	4	1.465	3.146	0.016
Gender * English level	7.908	5	1.582	3.397	0.006
Social media use * Studying stability	15.467	16	0.967	2.076	0.011
Study level * Studying stability	14.765	15	0.984	2.114	0.011
Study level * English level	15.033	16	0.940	2.018	0.014
Financial condition * Having a laptop	4.140	3	1.380	2.964	0.033
Financial condition * Studying stability	13.512	12	1.126	2.418	0.006
Financial condition * English level	30.289	22	1.377	2.957	0.0001
Financial condition * Job	13.106	11	1.191	2.559	0.005
Studying stability * Marital status	9.965	9	1.107	2.378	0.014
Studying stability * English level	46.864	19	2.467	5.297	0.0001
Marital status * Job	7.117	7	1.017	2.183	0.038
English level * Job	17.927	18	0.996	2.139	0.006
English level * GPA	28.944	13	2.226	4.782	0.0001
Chewing khat * Smoking	22.680	13	1.745	2.245	0.008
GPA * Chewing khat * Smoking	17.502	10	1.750	2.252	0.015

* The intersection between the variable.

shows that the attendance measure is significantly affected by various two-way socioeconomic interactions, such as gender–study level, gender–English level, social media use–studying stability, study level–studying stability, study level–English level, financial condition–having a laptop, financial condition–studying stability, financial condition–English level, financial condition–GPA, studying stability–marital status, studying stability–English level, marital status–job, English level–job, English level–GPA, and chewing khat–smoking. The condition of p < 0.05 and larger values of F are met and accurately tabulated in the last two columns of Table 6.

Amazingly, our investigation predicated that there is a three-way interaction with attendance as an output. An analysis of three socioeconomic variables found that these three variables (GPA–chewing khat–smoking) had a strong interaction with attendance, as depicted in Table 6. Similarly, the condition of p < 0.05 and larger values of F are met at F = 2.252; p < 0.015 and accurately tabulated in the last two columns of Table 6.

Specifically, the results showed that students’ class attendance was significantly higher for new female students, for females who were fluent in English, for students who used social media a lot and were relatively stable in their studies, for first-year students with higher stability, for second-year students who were fluent in English, for extremely poor students who had laptops, for extremely poor students who were highly stable in their studies, for financially abundant students who were fluent in the English language, for rich students who had no jobs, and for unmarried and highly stable students. Again, students’ attendance was significantly higher for students who were not fluent in English and relatively stable in their studies, for unmarried and jobless students, for employed students who were fluent in English, and for students who were not fluent English and who had GPAs less than the average.

Similarly, a two-variable analysis was performed to assess the effect of socioeconomic variables on GPA.

Table 7. Summary of two-variable effects of socioeconomic variables on GPA as a measure of academic achievement.

Variables	Sum of Square	df	Mean Square	F	p-Value
Social media use * English level	7.247	12	0.604	2.430	0.005
Having a laptop * Attendance	1.811	2	0.905	3.643	0.028
Studying stability * Attendance	4.097	8	0.512	2.060	0.041
Having a laptop * Studying stability	4.085	3	1.362	4.328	0.005
Gender * Study level	3.156	4	0.789	2.508	0.043

* The intersection between the variable.

shows that the GPA measure is significantly affected by social media use–English level, having a laptop–attendance, studying stability–attendance, having a laptop–studying stability, and gender–study level. Specifically, the interaction with GPA was significantly higher for less frequent social media users who were fluent in English, for higher-attendance-rate students who had no laptops, for highly stable students with relatively low attendance rates, for highly stable students who had no laptops, and for second-year female students.

Table 8. Opinions of male/female engineering students about some social issues in Yemeni society. 1.0 assigned for minimum, 5.0 assigned for maximum, and 3.0 assigned for medium.

No.	Statements	Sample Size	Evaluation
			Females	Males	Overall
01	Engineering is a good field for females	220	4.21	---	4.21
02	Females are more serious in their studies than males	595	3.96	3.4133	3.643
03	Females get more favoritism than males in HEIs	595	2.53	3.6545	3.182
04	Marriage negatively affects students’ academic performance	595	3.66	2.93	3.24
05	Chewing khat increases students’ academic performance	375	2.033	3.361	3.264
06	Social media use increases sexual harassment	595	3.43	2.6246	2.963
07	Beauty and not covering the face increase sexual harassment	220	3.08	----	3.08
08	Co-education negatively impacts academic achievement	595	2.92	2.575	2.72
09	Co-education increases sexual harassment	220	2.88	-----	2.88

summarizes the opinions of engineering students regarding many social issues, such as chewing khat, causes of sexual harassment, early-marriage consequences, and many other female-related issues in engineering education. Most female students believed that engineering education and engineering careers are good disciplines for females. Furthermore, students accepted that female students pay more attention to their studies than males in engineering fields. In addition, male students believed that females receive more favoritism in engineering colleges than males from both lecturers and college staff. The research team asked students about the causes of sexual harassment, and their responses inferred that beauty, women uncovering their faces, the co-education system, and high social media use were not proper reasons for increasing sexual harassment practices.

The students were also asked if marriage and chewing khat affected their academic achievements in university. Unlike men, whose opinions wavered, women answered that early marriage negatively affected students’ educational attainment. In contrast, unlike women, male students answered that chewing khat increased their academic achievements.

6. Discussion

This study provides a unique discussion about the socioeconomic status of Yemeni university students. This is because it investigates the peculiarities of Yemeni society that are not present in many other countries and their impact on students’ academic achievement. Early marriage, part-/full-time work, family financial condition, family openness, family stability, chewing khat, and so on, are examples of the characteristics of Yemeni society that are usually not discussed in other research.

Social beliefs have significant intersections with educational attainment, especially for female students in Yemeni society. Conservative families, for example, prohibit their daughters from participating in educational platforms and sometimes from online lectures [8]. Specifically, many Yemeni families forbid women from handing out phone numbers to classmates or enrolling in educational social networking groups [9]. Not only that, but some families also do not allow their daughters to join afternoon classes [10]. In the present study, about 31% of females stated that their families were disgusted by evening lectures and did not allow them to be at university later than 2:00 PM.

The number of Yemeni students who reside on the campus of their university during studying periods is almost zero; as a result, studying stability represents the most critical variable affecting the academic achievement measures of university students; stability means that a student is stable in terms of their daily pocket expenses, has a good residency with their family, is free of family responsibilities, and is completely devoted to their study. Those students who had these characteristics showed high academic performance. The results of this study are compatible with the results of recent studies performed at universities in Oman [43], the UAE [39], China [22], Nigeria [2,17,19], Kenya [18], and the KSA [6,38].

The financial condition of families is a critical factor in enrolling their members in tertiary education and for good academic performance [15,22]. Families with low incomes cannot pay education fees or purchase the personal laptops necessary for engineering students. Furthermore, many families cannot afford the daily transportation cost, pushing many students to cut off their education and leave university. Male students, in particular, are often forced to take full-time or part-time jobs to overcome these financial barriers. Unluckily, female students have narrow options for overcoming these financial obstacles [10].

6.1. Early Marriage

Early marriage in Yemen is tightly connected to educational attainment, owing to the increased family responsibilities, especially for females. Figure 1 illustrates the marriage percentage of female engineers from secondary school through the engineering college period to about six years after graduation. The results showed that 6.2% of female engineers got married before entering college, i.e., at the secondary school level, compared to only 0.6% of their male counterparts. Similarly, at the end of college, the percentage of female engineers who got married increased to 14.46%, while that of males increased to only 6.17%. Immediately after graduation, the rate of marriage increased equally for male and female engineers until the age of about 26 years. After that, the rate of male engineers’ marriage increased promptly, reaching about 79% at 30 years old. In contrast, for female engineers, the slope of the curve behaves differently; the marriage percentage increased from about 20% at 26 years old to only 47.5% at 30 years old. To conclude, this study inferred that about half of female engineers are unmarried at 30 years old, compared to only less than 20% of male engineers. This large gap could be attributed to the social norms that allow men to select their wives while women are expected to stay at home until a man requests them for engagement and, later on, marriage. Furthermore, traditional marriage is the dominant case in Yemeni society, which requires the prior permission of both families and expensive ceremonies.

The impact of early marriage on academic achievement is investigated here. An exciting survey result shows that early marriage negatively and strongly correlates with lecture attendance, overall grade, and English level (see Table 5). This is plausibly due to increased family and spouse responsibilities. It is also predicted that female engineering graduates from non-conservative families have a high chance of marriage. Also, married students had slightly higher incomes than single students. In particular, married females were exposed to negligible sexual harassment, bullying, and incivility. All in all, the proportion of married students among engineering students was minor and therefore its effect as a social variable was also minor on their GPAs, as shown in the correlation factors in Table 5. In addition, the results indicated that societal restrictions and early marriage had a greater impact on female students. This nuanced understanding contributes to gender-specific educational policy recommendations.

6.2. Sexual Harassment

It is hard to investigate this variable due to the differences between families and individuals in defining it. Conservative families may consider any communication with their daughters from students or teachers outside the university campus to be sexual harassment, while non-conservative families may allow their daughters to communicate with students and lecturers freely [8]. However, in general, the sexual harassment of female students at Yemeni universities is not a significant problem because of the social and religious beliefs of the Yemeni community that criminalize this disgraceful behavior. Furthermore, more than two-thirds of Yemeni female students wear face coverings, which undoubtedly contributes positively to decreasing sexual harassment. One result indicates that female students subjected to different types of sexual harassment were unstable in their studies. In other words, sexual harassment strongly and negatively correlated with the stability of female students in their studies. Employed females were exposed to more sexual harassment practices than unemployed female students [10]. In addition, the survey results show that female students who reported high sexual harassment were fluent in the English language and had slightly better GPAs (see Table 5). Finally, the financial condition of female students was an independent variable of sexual harassment.

6.3. Financial Conditions

The challenging economic landscape faced by university students everywhere diminishes their focus on academic performance and increases their inclination to start their own businesses [24]. In Yemen, families constantly strive to enroll their young members in undergraduate studies, despite the high poverty level. The questionnaire responses of engineering students suggested that financial condition had a negligible correlation with GPAs but positively and strongly impacted studying stability. Furthermore, the expected results indicate that students in good financial condition were major contributors to the practices of chewing khat and smoking. As a result, their attendance rate was relatively low. In addition, the financial condition of students was positively correlated with variables such as having laptops, marriage, and English level. These results deviate from other studies of economically and politically stable societies [15,19,23,25]. To conclude, the financial condition of university students significantly affects various socioeconomic variables that impact their academic achievement. However, the effects of having a low income seldom resulted in Yemeni students reaching a stage of academic probation and then dropping out, as is the case of students in other countries [43].

Figure 2 explains the daily expenses of male/female engineers during their undergraduate engineering studies in Taiz City. These shocking results show that more than 93% of females spent less than USD 2 per day for transportation, meals, and study requirements, compared to ~67% of their male counterparts. The average, calculated based on 250 female engineers and 346 male engineers, was found to be USD 1.45 for females and USD 2.24 for males. Undoubtedly, these values indicate that the majority of Yemeni families live under the poverty line.

According to recent UN reports, two-thirds of Yemeni people live below the poverty line; this was evident in the very low daily expenditure ratio of engineering students. The sharp decrease in the daily expenses of students in Yemen can be attributed to the prolonged civil war that forced many families to emigrate away from their original residential places, losing their jobs and income sources, leading to economic collapse and the deterioration of the local currency. Interesting survey outcomes inferred that married students’ expenses were slightly higher than single students; this is reasonable logic since early marriage is typically seen in relatively wealthy and stable families.

The decline in daily expenses for female engineers compared to male engineers is because girls are rarely allowed by their families to live outside their homes with female colleagues; they regularly stay with their families and take meals at home. In contrast, male engineering students adapt their lives to difficult conditions, far from their family residencies. Male engineers eat all their daily meals based on their daily financial expenses. Moreover, most male engineers consume khat daily, as confirmed by this research, which greatly increases their daily financial expenditure more than their female counterparts.

The research team consulted Prof. Mogeeb Saeed, Vice Dean for Student Affairs, Faculty of Engineering, Taiz University, to explain why female expenses were less than male students. Prof. Saeed argued that males are poorer than females; most females live with their families in the city. Therefore, their daily financial expenditure includes snacks, transportation, and study accessories. In contrast, most male students live far from their families, and thus their daily financial requirements include three meals, transportation, renting a house, and mostly chewing khat. Dr. A. Ghaleb, Dean of the College of Engineering at Aljanad University, agrees with Dr. Saeed’s opinion: male students suffer more financial problems than females. Males have more responsibilities and freedom than females and therefore have more financial responsibilities [10].

6.4. Jobs

Unlike Yemeni students, students in developed and rich countries receive stipends to perform their studies stably [2]. Even in countries that do not pay for their students, their families can endure the expenditure requirements of studying [24,25]. Having a job significantly and negatively affected the attendance rate, GPAs, and English level of engineering students, as depicted in Table 5. Despite the obvious negative effects of having jobs, Yemeni students resorted to this option to cover the expenses of their studies and pay their studying fees. In particular, Yemeni students take part-time, full-time, and online jobs to continue their undergraduate education. The survey findings specify that students who tried to work part-time and frequently or through the Internet belonged to impoverished families. These students try to reduce the financial burden on their families and afford part of their daily expenses and fees at the university.

The results also specified that a student’s financial condition is an independent variable from the university type, specialization, and college level. On the contrary, the family’s financial situation has a strong relationship with academic attainment; rich students had better levels of English than poor students. Engineering disciplines require students to purchase more tools and equipment than other disciplines; poor families cannot afford laptops and drawing tools for their children in college. Accordingly, the survey outcomes suggest that the high poverty level is directly proportional to having a personal laptop. In other words, very poor students are unable to purchase laptops.

Figure 3 explains the financial behavior of engineering students in Yemen and how they afford their college expenditures and fees. Regarding engineering student work, the survey results recorded that 7.1% of male students had permanent jobs compared to 2% of female engineers. These students are required to strike a balance between their job, college, and family. The results showed that male students faced more problems and provided less family care than females. In this regard, 26.3% of male engineering students earned money from online jobs compared to 4.8% of female engineers. Furthermore, 33.6% of male engineers earned money from temporary and nonconventional jobs compared to 12.4% of their female counterparts. Finally, the proportion of female engineers who relied on their families was 80.8% compared to only 33% of male engineers. The survey data inferred that 15.82% of male students self-covered their entire university expenditure compared to only 4% of female engineers.

6.5. Chewing Khat and Smoking

Qat/khat is a deeply rooted social habitus in Yemeni society, especially among males. Yemenis spend long hours chewing qat leaves as a stimulant. Specifically, students believe that khat gives them enough energy to study their courses effectively. Figure 4 shows the percentage of Yemeni engineering students (males and females) pursuing undergraduate engineering studies who chewed khat. The outcomes confirm that about 35.84% of male students chewed khat daily, compared to zero female students. In other words, no single female student was addicted to chewing khat, but a few of them chewed it rarely. Furthermore, about 73% of female students never chewed khat, compared to only 15.6% of male students.

Does chewing khat enhance the academic attainment of students? This question was asked of 250 female engineering students and 346 male engineering students. Most male students strongly believed that chewing khat enhances the scientific attainment of students. However, the opinion of female engineering students was contrary to their male counterparts. Most females believed that khat has a negligible enhancement on scientific attainment; to deny the male students’ beliefs, the college results showed that the overall grades of female engineers (do not chew khat) were significantly better than male engineers (regularly chew khat), with few exceptions [10]. This belief is in contrast to the finding of a recent study performed in Saudi Arabia on mathematics students that inferred that female students obtained lower GPAs than males [6]. Furthermore, a statistical analysis of khat chewers in the present study indicates that chewing khat negatively impacted the GPAs, English level, attendance, and stability of engineering students. As expected, the attendance rate of khat-chewing-addicted students was extremely low, and they are more frequent smokers.

The smoking (hookah tobacco or cigarettes) habitus among Yemeni students is not a worrying phenomenon. As a result of the high level of poverty among Yemeni students, the number of smokers was very small and did not exceed 5%, whether male or female, as per the outcomes of the present survey.

Finally, this study clarifies the detrimental effects of the common Yemeni cultural practice of chewing khat on students’ academic performance. Although its stimulant effect has been examined in other studies, this study adds to the body of knowledge on how cultural practices impact learning results by focusing on khat. This focus area of research has never been considered in similar studies of educational performance in Yemen.

To conclude, this study reveals novel perspectives on how protracted conflict and economic collapse affect academic achievement. In contrast to most studies in stable nations, this study emphasizes the additional difficulties that university students in conflict areas encounter, such as instability, financial hardship, and restricted access to educational resources.

7. Conclusions and Recommendations

The presented study sheds light on the impact of socioeconomic variables of Yemeni society on the academic attainments of engineering graduates. Academic achievement was measured by three measures: GPA, attendance rate, and English level. The outcomes indicated that socioeconomic variables strongly influence GPA, attendance, and English level, with more peculiarity in lecture attendance. The results inferred that stability in the study of engineering students is a more interactive variable that affected academic achievement measures. Furthermore, early marriage, social media use, sexual harassment, and financial conditions were critical socioeconomic variables influencing academic achievement measures.

In addition, this study inferred that chewing khat and smoking habits negatively affect the GPA, attendance, stability, and English level of engineering students; the persistent chewing of khat critically affected the financial conditions of students, as khat consumed about 40% of students’ expenses daily, especially males.

Yemeni university students, especially men, contribute much to part-time, full-time, and online jobs to endure their studying expenses. In particular, two-thirds of male students and one-fifth of female students in Yemen try to earn money during their university education. Having a job for students negatively affects their GPAs, stability, and lecture attendance. One substantial finding from this survey study is that social variables affected the academic achievement of females more than male students, while economic variables had much more impact on male than female students.

This study recommends that researchers perform longitudinal studies that examine causal links between socioeconomic conditions and academic outcomes and monitor their academic progress over time. Also, studies that can capture a wider audience from other cities in the country are recommended to better understand the dynamic effects of continuous conflict and economic shifts. University students in Yemen need joint care from family, community, and educational institutions to overcome the socioeconomic obstacles that negatively affect their academic achievement, while the government’s role is essential to issuing policies that minimize student dropout and contribute to providing a healthy educational environment.